Jesse Frimpone didn’t start his entrepreneurial journey in a polished boardroom or with venture capital backing. His story began in aisles of Ross and Walmart, scanning RGB light kits for resale and flipping them for a $10 to $20 profit at a time. For Frimpone, the equation was simple: if you’re short on money, you have to be long on grit.
Today, he runs Prestige Knowledge, an education platform that helps people learn how to build online businesses through e-commerce, automation, and artificial intelligence. His business doesn’t sell shiny dreams but focuses on teaching real skills.
A Mission Rooted in Heritage and Impact
Frimpone’s roots trace back to Ghana, where his grandfather serves as a village king. While he’s never visited, a trip later this year will mark both a personal homecoming and the beginning of a legacy project where he will help build a school under the Frimpone name. The plan is an extension of his drive to make education, especially digital literacy and entrepreneurship, accessible where it’s needed most.
That mission to empower others through knowledge has clearly shaped how he built his company. Prestige Knowledge isn’t just about selling online, it’s about giving people access to powerful tools like automation and AI that were once reserved for big businesses. The platform zeroes in on helping people use these tools to start and scale businesses from their phones.
From Diaper Money to Digital Strategy
Before the coaching programs and educational platforms, Frimpone’s business journey started out of necessity. He became a father young and found himself without enough cash to buy formula or diapers. It was that pressure cooker moment, compounded by a delayed U.S. work visa and an approaching pandemic, that forced him into entrepreneurship.
Selling tech accessories and gadgets from discount retailers became his first hustle. But when COVID shut down in-person retail, he pivoted fast. He moved operations online, built a Shopify store, taught himself marketing through YouTube, and leaned into dropshipping. That switch removed inventory constraints and opened the door to scale.
Over time, his small operation transformed into something much more powerful. Now, instead of packaging orders himself, Frimpone operates multiple stores and uses automation, influencers, and AI-driven systems to keep the engine running.
Prestige Knowledge and the Power of Education
Frimpone built Prestige Knowledge with the goal of making online income strategies accessible to those who don’t know where to start. The platform specializes in teaching people how to sell physical products online, leverage affiliate marketing, and apply AI tools to do the heavy lifting — product research, trend analysis, and even social media management.
The company’s approach is heavily rooted in demystifying e-commerce. A core lesson? You don’t have to be a social media star or tech expert to run a successful business. With the right tools and guidance, it’s possible to run a brand completely behind the scenes, delegating content creation to influencers, and automating fulfillment through tools like CJ Dropshipping.
TikTok Changed the Game, and He Took Note
Frimpone’s strategy also heavily leans into how social media has evolved. He credits TikTok’s algorithm with leveling the playing field, allowing unknown creators — and brands — to go viral purely based on content quality, not follower count. His team uses a network of over 300 influencers to push products through TikTok Shop, building reach and conversion with speed and precision.
Unlike traditional platforms that rely on multiple clicks and bio links to drive purchases, TikTok Shop integrates commerce directly into videos. That single-click-to-buy feature, paired with short-form viral content, has made it Frimpone’s go-to growth engine. By tapping into TikTok’s native commerce tools and short-form content trends, Frimpone has turned what was once a manual hustle into a repeatable, scalable revenue engine.
Building Smarter, Not Just Harder
The essence of Frimpone’s business model is using data and automation to work smarter. His product selection strategy involves tracking Google Trends, leveraging AI platforms like Viral Ninja to assess saturation levels, and using TikTok’s product discovery tools to validate buying behavior. The approach blends creativity with analytics — instinct backed by insight.
And it works. Prestige Knowledge doesn’t just teach people how to start businesses. It gives them a framework to understand what works, why it works, and how to adapt it to their own lives. It’s not about selling courses, it’s about teaching systems.
Back to Basics, Forward With Tech
At its core, Frimpone’s story is about taking street-level hustle and evolving it with the help of AI and content strategy. He still believes in the power of flipping discount store items, just as he did in his early days, but now uses that model to teach scalability. With platforms like TikTok and tools powered by AI, he’s showing that the path from side hustle to scalable success is now shorter and smarter than ever.
Want more Grit Daily Startup Show? Take a look at past articles, head over to YouTube, or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
