Written By Sherwood Kohn
Evan Paul is a great big (6’ 5”) fresh-faced kid from Boston. He is also, at age 18, a millionaire.
On a recent Thursday morning, Paul towered over about 70 youngsters-all of them outfitted in white tee shirts with blue “Dream” emblazened on them -in the all-purpose room of Friendship School in Eldersburg to hear how a dyslexic boy parlayed an interest in computer games into a multimillion-dollar business.
Friendship School, of course, is dedicated to the education of dyslexic children (the names of noted dyslexics, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Isaac Newton, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo DaVinci and John Lennon, are emblazoned on the building’s facade), and Paul is a spectacular example of someone who overcame his handicap and even triumphed beyond his and his parents’ most ambitious dreams, which is why he was invited to spend the day at the school and speak inspirationally to its students.
Paul, attired conservatively in a navy blue blazer, cream-colored slacks and a shirt and tie, spoke confidently from text arrayed on a laptop in front of him, told his audience how he was diagnosed with dyslexia in the eighth grade, after years of agonizing struggle with his disability, and began blossoming at the Landmark School not far from his home in Boston.
He had always played computer games, but at age 14 it occurred to him that he might be able to start an internet company based on trading games with other players.
To make a long story short, through persistence, innate intelligence, much parental support and a deep desire to show the scoffers who disdained him in school just how smart he really was, he started “e-gameplace,” “The one-stop place to trade your games online.”
The company, which Paul named after himself, is so successful that its founder now has an administrative staff of five in Boston (all of whom are over 30 years old) and a full-time tech group of 15 in Katmandu, Nepal. Paul said he has been offered $2.5 million for his firm.
His audience was obviously stimulated. They wanted to know all about him. Does he have a girl friend? (Yes.) What are his favorite sports? (Scuba diving and sailing.) What is his family like? (He has a younger sister, Margot, his father, Barry, is a dermatologist, and his mother, Lisa, is a dentist.) Does he have pets? (He has always owned dogs: “They were the only things who would listen to me.”) Is he going on to college? (Yes, the University of Arizona, where he will concentrate on entrepreneurship and major in industrial psychology.) What is his favorite computer game? (Tennis Wii.) (How many computer games does he own? (More than 700.) What is his favorite food? (Sushi.) How does he schedule his time? (Very carefully. He sleeps four to six hours a night, gets up at 5:30 a.m. to talk to the staff in Nepal, balances school and work, and relaxes completely on weekends.)
And what, having been an entrepreneur for three years, was his advice to the kids? “Always,” he said, “remember to self-advocate. Be an advocate of positive thinking. Making a mistake is not a tragedy. The tragedy is not learning from mistakes.”
Interestingly enough, Paul confided that now, the greatest part of his income from egameplace does not come from trading games, for which he charges customers $1.95 per transaction ($4.95 for a membership), but from media companies that buy information about his clients.
Oh, yes. Paul confided that he is practicing remembering the names of people he meets. He has apparently made the leap into the big time. -S.D.K.
