Speaking to an exclusive audience of top-tier MSP business owners at a live event hosted by TMT founder Robin Robins, Gene Simmons, the legendary KISS co-founder who rose from poor immigrant roots to build a $400 million business empire. He delivered his raw, unfiltered wisdom about building wealth: “I want to make more money. Money is happiness. Your mother needs a hip operation. Your child is sick. Only money is going to take care of that. Money fuels the economy. It creates jobs. Warren Buffett is giving almost all his money to worthwhile charities to help other people. Ethically, morally—our duty is to leave the world just a bit better than when we came into it.”
From Humble Beginnings To Business Mogul
Born in Israel as Chaim Witz, Simmons emigrated to the United States with his mother when he was eight, watching her work in a New York sweatshop to barely cover rent and food. In January 1973, KISS performed their first gig to five people. Cultivating a bad-boy rock superhero image that appealed to the black sheep of society, they built a massive audience. By 1975, the band’s fan club—the KISS ARMY—had grown to six figures.
Simmons became the mastermind behind the band’s massive merchandizing success, generating $117 million in annual sales by the late 1970s. Beyond music, he built a diverse portfolio, including the Rock & Brews restaurant chain, Cool Springs financial services, a reality show, and a football team—LA KISS. He’s appeared in TV shows and movies, produced music, is a best-selling author on entrepreneurship, and is a well-known speaker on the business lecture circuit.
Simmons’s 7 Rules For Building Wealth
1. Embrace Money Unapologetically
“Every step you take is either going to make you money or cost you money,” he said. “I prefer to make money. You have an inferred fiduciary duty to yourself.”
2. Work Harder Than Everyone Else
“Some of the least intelligent people I’ve met are also some of the wealthiest individuals,” Simmons revealed. “The only difference between them and you is they work longer and harder. If you do nothing on [the] weekends—that’s 104 days out of the year where you’re doing nothing except spending money.”
3. Choose Your Circle Wisely
“Get rid of all your loser friends,” Simmons said. “Anybody who wants to go drinking, hanging out—get rid of them. They are vampires. They will suck you dry of any energy that you should be fully devoting to yourself. Surround yourself with better-looking people, richer people, smarter people. Yes, it’s all surface stuff, but it works.”
4. Master Communication and Branding
Clear communication, speaking with authority, and maximizing your brand are important. “If you’ve got a brand that works, there are almost no limitations,” he said. “In fact, KISS has done everything from KISS condoms to KISS caskets. We’ll get you coming, and we’ll get you going.”
5. Diversify Income Streams
“Always have something else that makes you money,” Simmons advised. “You can, and you should, have passions. Whatever that passion is, there is a market for it.”
6. Protect Your Assets
Simmons recommends trademarking your business and products. “The first thing in building a business is a nice, clear fence,” he said. “Good fences make good neighbors.”
7. Approach Life With Fresh Eyes
Pointing out that innovation often comes from unqualified outsiders, he encouraged the audience to approach everything like it’s brand new. “All businesses were invented in garages,” he emphasized. “All businesses were created by people with vision. It’s always about people with passion, the fire in their belly and vision who refuse to quit no matter how many times [they] fail.”
Keys To Success
For Simmons, the path to success is paved with deliberate actions and unwavering commitment. He stressed that self-education and professional development form the foundation, particularly in understanding financial literacy and the language of money. As demonstrated by KISS’s evolution, marketing prowess and differentiation are crucial elements. Simmons advocates for brand maximization, income diversification, strategic tax management, and protecting your intellectual property through trademarks and legal structures. He also emphasized the value of strategic partnerships, telling the audience to “liaise with everybody” and “grab contact information from interesting potential collaborators.”
Most importantly, Simmons insisted that success isn’t about natural talent or inherited privilege. It’s about relentless drive, continuous learning, strategic thinking, unapologetic ambition, and the willingness to work longer and harder than everyone else.
“You have a fiduciary duty to educate yourself—to be in the right place with the right thing at the right time,” he said. “It’s all up to you to make life worthwhile and make a lot more money, because you can, and you will.”
