I AM LOGAN KUGLER
SIRI
SAID THIS ABOUT ME
ROBIN WILLIAMS
SAID THIS ABOUT ME
Q
THE OMNIPOTENT BEING
SAID THIS ABOUT ME
PUBLISHED IN
DRIVEN THE WORLD'S
BEST CARS
and scared the pants off my friends.
SURPRISED MY DAD WITH A
motorcycle
HE'S WANTED SINCE I WAS 12.
SENT CAPTAIN KIRK INTO
outerSPACE .
near
SPENT A WEEKEND WITH
Sir Richard Branson
HIS PRIVATE ISLAND.
ON
WAS ON THE HOMEPAGE OF
WITH SteveJobs.
WITH
DID A PHOTOSHOOT
Jay Leno
.
FOR
pulled 6 Gs!
THE
'S
FLOATED IN ZERO GRAVITY ON
Vomit Comet .
BEEN INSIDE
Space Shuttle.
*AND UNINTENTIONALLY DISOBEYED THE RULES AND
WAS TOLD BY THE NASA CHIEF: "YOU'RE LUCKY YOU WEREN'T SHOT AND YOUR BODY THROWN IN THE RIVER!"
TRAINED AS AN
ASTR NAUT
IN A CENTRIFUGE.
TRAINED IN HIGH PERFORMANCE
ice driving
BY THE GUY WHO TAUGHT KEN BLOCK .
BROKE THE
lap record
AT
'S
TRACK
.
FIRST JOURNALIST IN THE USA THAT
LOANED THEIR ULTRA-EXCLUSIVE 675LT
DROVE A
1,000
MILES THROUGH
Germany,
Switzerland
& Austria
IN 72 HOURS.
SUMMITED THE PEAK
TALLEST
LANDMASS ON Earth.
OF
THE
LOCATION: KECK OBSERVATORY, MAUNA KEA, HAWAII
TAPPED BY THE WRITERS OF
FOR PLOT IDEAS.
CLIMBED TO THE VERY TIP OF AN
1,109 ft. tall
TOWER.
LIVED IN A REMOTE TOWN IN THE
Canadian Rockies
FOR A YEAR.
MY
AGE
3
SPARK OF ENTREPRENEURIALISM
Went around my Florida neighborhood and picked up free newspapers out of my neighbor's yards and sold it back to them for $1. 13 of my 15 neighbors paid me.
Took the red Radio Flyer wagon my parents bought me for Christmas around my neighborhood selling VHS movies and candy bars door-to-door. During regular trips to Sam’s Club with my mom, I would curiously scour every aisle and it occurred to me I could buy in bulk and sell to my neighbors. Soon ventured out into the surrounding neighborhoods. People in distant neighborhoods wondered who this 6-year-old kid was and where were his parents.
AGE
6
AGE
9
Raised the most donations out of 800 students for my school's annual fundraiser for three consecutive years. Won trips to Disney World, Busch Gardens, and lunch with the principle. We talked politics (kidding, I think I negotiated for more junk food in the cafeteria, citing increased morale).
Scaled my movie selling business by taking the operation online and created my first real business: Logan's Closeout Company. I bought customer returns and defective product from my dad’s distribution company, fixed them to like-new, and sold them on Half.com. Within 6 months, I had three employees who were helping pull, pack, and ship all of the videos. Turned a five-figure profit in the first year. Shut down by my supplier (my dad) because I was competing with his business by undercutting his prices. Also: built my first computer from scratch and got a checking account (and a state ID so I could write checks at retail stores, still being too young for a credit card).
AGE
10
AGE
10
AGE
11
Dropped out of school two months into 6th grade. My 5 older brothers insisted I'd become a brainless meat popsicle flipping burgers. Didn't see how what I was being taught in school would be relevant later in life (I was right). Recall asking my math teacher a question and he quipped: "I already went over that and won't be going over it again." Couldn't even learn what they were trying to teach. Decided I could do a better job teaching myself. So I used Google, watched the Discovery Channel and History Channel, and rode my motorized scooter to Barnes & Noble every day and spent hours picking up and reading random books to get my education. Best decision of my life; I got out of the school system just before they beat the curiosity right out of me.
DISCOVERED GO-PEDS
Not old enough to drive, but ached for my freedom. Got an electric scooter at 11, but limited range meant it was time to go petrol-powered; I wanted to go faster and further. Got immersed in the world of Go-Peds. Spent six months in mid-2002 living in Los Angeles with my dad (he was there for work). While he was at work during the day, I rode my Go-Ped, sometimes twenty miles or more a day, through multiple cities. At 12. I think my parents were slightly insane to let me do that in Los Angeles. Then again, it seeded the independence I have today. Also: bought a cell phone (convinced my parents I needed one for safety while cruising around town).
AGE
12
AGE
13
STARTED MY SECOND BUSINESS
Started a business that created custom CNC'd (computer-machined) parts for motorized scooters. Hired CAD designers in India and contracted with a U.S.-based machine shop to produce the parts. Had serial numbers, laser-etched logos, branded packaging tape, "patent-pending" designs, multiple products, and a team of product testers. Didn't make it past the first year due to demographic oversight: teenagers don’t have disposable income for premium products. Considered transitioning to the motorcycle industry, but lost my passion for the idea. Was my first real business failure, but an enormous learning experience.
Started to write. Read books on how to become a successful freelance writer. Within a few months,
I wrote for my first national magazine. Within a few years, I was published in more than 50. Today, I have written for nearly 100 national and international magazines and some of the world’s most popular websites. Writing has allowed me to live on my own, without roommates, since 17 and partake in extra-ordinary experiences. I got paid to learn and have fun. Also: sued PayPal in court (and won).
AGE
14
AGE
15
Got approved for an Amex (just dialed back my birth year by a few digits on the application). Quickly realized I could book plane tickets with my credit card and started flying around the country by myself.
AGE
15
BOUGHT A BMW
Flew to NYC by myself to shop a book proposal around to agents. Discovered upon arrival you need to be 18 to check into a hotel. My parents located a friend to check me in. Also: bought a new BMW with the earnings from my writing. My passion for cars ignited.
AGE
16
AGE
17
Left the mothership. Was clear to me my freedom was pivotal to being able to grow intellectually. Three months after turning 17, I packed up and moved 2,500 miles away to Los Angeles. It was a massively transformative next 18 months. I spent thousands of hours reading books and online self-help articles, and hundreds of hours watching videos like TED talks. I spent tens of thousands of dollars of my own money on personal development seminars. Estimate I doubled the entire totality of my knowledge within 18 months. Began to understand how little I know. Also: attained Platinum status on American Airlines from traveling so much.
Saw Star Trek 2009 and it ignited my passion for space travel in an astronomical way. Decided to figure out how to get a seat on Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceship. Moved to a remote town in the Canadian Rockies for a year in order to work distraction-free on designing a massive event in which I would be the youngest person to ever go into space and raise a million dollars for charity.
AGE
19
AGE
20
Met Richard Branson. My idea pivoted from publicity stunt, where just one person would go into space, into finding a way to make it cheap enough for anyone who wants to go to space to go. Designed an epic plan in incredible detail over the following several years that would make cheap access to LEO (low Earth orbit) viable. NASA’s Space Shuttle cost around $7,000/lbs. to send things into orbit. I figured out how to do it for 1/500th of that. Specifically, how to catalyze the development of mankind’s next-generation space propulsion engine that would be able to accelerate a mass from 0 to 17,500mph (orbit velocity) for $14/lbs. My goal: to jumpstart the beginning of mankind’s permanent presence in the stars. My intention: set the space world on fire by furthering our efforts in space greater than anything currently on the table. Elon Musk’s ambition ends where mine begins. It would be the first in a series of projects on a long, pre-mapped path to ultimately enabling interstellar flight. I just needed funding that, so far, I haven’t obtained. It was too risky for traditional VCs. But it would work.
Founded a PR firm.
AGE
25
© 2020 Logan Kugler