Immigrant Entrepreneur Success with Charles Van Kessler

with Charles Van Kessler

Jul 2, 2026 · 00:20:12

Charles, welcome to the Total Entrepreneur Podcast. It is really great to have you here.

Thank you. It's a pleasure.

So, normally, I'd start with some business questions, but your background is so interesting. You check so many boxes that I'm interested in terms of social entrepreneurship, immigrant entrepreneurship, Opportunity recognition. So I want to start way back in your life. So you were 2 years old when the Nazis came and really just devastated your life at that point. Could you tell us a little bit about what happened?

Well, we were sitting at the dining room table, the whole family, my parents, my grandparents, and there was a knocking on the door. We didn't expect anybody, so we didn't open because it was a bad time, you know, these days. And they started knocking louder and kicking, finally kicking with their metal boots in the door that came down. And we knew what was happening then, and they took everybody away. And, you know, I ended up in a state-run orphanage. I don't know how, but I ended up in a state-run orphanage for 8 years of abuse every day. And never saw my family again. And when I was 8 years, I had so much of it, I couldn't take it anymore. I was still suicidal and everything. And so I escaped and lived on the streets of Amsterdam by myself as an 8-year-old for almost 2 years. Don't ask me how, I cannot explain it anymore. I'm 85 today, so. Then I met an American family in Amsterdam on the streets somehow that heard my story from me. And they were taken so much in pain and shock and that they arranged for me to come to America on a green card. And that's where my life finally started taking off.

So much of this explains obviously your current ventures. But I want to dive in a little bit more to the abuse as a child because in my own business, we work with young children with disabilities and it's a very vulnerable population. So what are your earliest memories like? Can you describe the types of conditions and the things you had to put up with when you were that young?

All I can tell you is that I still have nightmares 85 years later. My wife keeps waking me up once in a while and I'm just still in the orphanage in my dreams sometimes. Yeah, it's crazy. Crazy. So then I went to America and I was still in such bad condition mentally and emotionally. So the people that helped me said, why don't you start taking a bunch of vitamin pills every day? And so I started doing that for about 30, 60 days, but nothing worked. And then I went to see some medical doctors that were familiar with nutrition. And they told me that most of the pills and tablets, and that's even today in 2026, don't probably absorb into the body. Only 20% absorbs, 80% goes in the toilet. And then I should look for a liquid product that absorbs over 90% within 1 minute, within 2 minutes into the body. And so I couldn't find it. So I started studying more and more and more and finally created my own product for me. And to see if it would work. And boy, did it work. I woke up after 2 months, I was a different person. And so I made a company out of it. And then I promised God in my early days in the orphanage there and after that if I ever get a break, that I would give back big time. And that's what we do still today. We have an orphanage. That's Passion for Kids, stands for kids in desperate situations. Believe it or not, you know, it's funny to have the word kids, stands for kids in desperate situations, very appropriately. And so I started that in 1978, and we've had that ever since. And then in 2001, I met my wife. A long time ago, 25 years ago, I met my wife, and she was happily retired. She worked at the White House for President Ford as an assistant, and then after that, she ran the press with Billy Graham 22 years all over the world, and then she was happily retired, but then the poor thing met me. When I tell this story, once he's sitting next to me, he said, now I'm very tired. But she does a great job. I created it all and she's managing it all in a phenomenal way. So here we are.

It's an incredible story. You came to America in 1964, I believe, if I'm right. Yeah, '63. Okay. And you had very little money, $100 maybe in your pocket?

Almost nothing.

And from what I understand, it took you almost 10 years to develop your liquid vitamin formula. So it seems like there's a big leap between Arriving in the United States with very little money at 10 years old around there and somebody suggesting you take vitamins, they weren't working.

'63, I was 22 years old.

Oh, you were 22 years old. Okay, got you. Oh, so you were living on the streets for a while and then—

A while and then I lived with a few people that helped me and then I got a job in a hotel and on and on and on it went till I went to America in 1963. Yeah.

Got it.

All right.

So, so when you arrived here, you had no money and you knew you needed money, right? So you, I think, I think the story goes within 3 days you had, you were working 2 jobs. Is that right?

Yeah.

So the hotel and what was the other one?

Well, 2 hotels I was working at the same time, one in the morning and one at night. Okay.

And what were you doing there?

I was a concierge and we just went overseas recently, and I walked— I went by the hotel where I worked.

Wow.

And I walked in there and looking around, of course, there was nobody there that I remember because it was so long ago. But I walked up to the head concierge and I explained the story and he says, oh, wow, welcome back. And let's take a picture. And he put his concierge coat on me, put me behind the counter, and my wife took pictures from us. It was such a special time.

Wow! What was the hotel that you took the picture at?

Napolsky. Yeah, right on the Dam Square across the palace. All right.

So then you had somebody who said, "Hey, take some vitamins. Maybe this will help you," and you just got the sense that it wasn't really helping you. And this is part of the journey that I'm very interested in because it's almost out of necessity for you that you said, "Hey, there's got to be a better way to do this." So how do I do it? So As an immigrant with little money, 2 jobs, you created a supplement company. So, how did this unfold? How did you get started and how did you work through this?

When I went to America, that's when it really all started. And, that's why I had also the 2 jobs in Miami Beach. And, I knew that I had to do something to make my life worthwhile and to accomplish something. So, that's when I started studying nutrition and, you know, dealt with several major medical entities, and they helped me create it. And once I created it with 100 vitamins in it, 100 vitamins and minerals in the product, in every shot you take, it became a whole different story, you know. Suddenly, it was just a phenomenon. be able to have done that and to have it work and then make a company out of it still at a young age while I was still working. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So, when you said you started studying nutrition, was this a formal education or degree program or are you a self-learner? How did you learn everything you needed to learn?

Long time, long time. Looking into it, self-learning, talking to doctors and people that are familiar in the nutritional field. It took years. Yeah.

So it strikes me that you had to have some sort of serious motivation to do that, right? I mean, most people working 2 jobs might be tired enough to just think, hey, maybe someday I'll do this, right? But you did it.

I did it. I knew I had to do it. I couldn't go on living like that with working 2 jobs, 18 hours a day. You know, and very little money. So I just had to do it and I did it.

And I think that's really inspirational because a lot of entrepreneurs think they need a lot of money or investment or connections to, to get started. And your industry is kind of complicated. The supplement and vitamin industry is not the easiest business to get involved with. What was that of learning and developing the product like? So now you've got the information, right? You know about nutrition, you've talked to doctors, how do you actually start Trying to make a liquid vitamin? Do you have a lab in your kitchen? How do you do this?

I talked with many individuals in that field, you know, doctors and nutritional experts, and explained to them what I wanted to do, and I needed to do it to survive physically, emotionally, mentally, physically, in every other way. And so I just made it work. It's hard to go back there and explain in detail how it all worked, but I did it, you know, and here I am. Many, many, many years later, I'm now 85. So then I was about 20 or whatever. So 60 years later, here I am, you know, own a company that does millions a year and helps people in a charity because a portion of every bottle is paid to our charity so that we can work with the handicapped children and their families, which we do on a major scale. And yeah, so there we are.

And I know it could not have been easy, right? There was a lot along the way. So do you remember any major obstacles or roadblocks that you had to overcome and how you did that?

It was an incredible undertaking. Incredible. Yeah, I don't know how many times I wanted to quit and just jump in the water, you know, whatever. But I did it. I prayed about it. I did it. And I knew I was close. So Then it came together and my first customer was Regis Philbin.

I saw that. Yeah. And you got a nice testimonial from Regis Philbin. That was cool. So when somebody recommended you take vitamins for, you know, the, you know, whatever you were experiencing at the time, what was the condition that you thought you were treating with the vitamins and how did a liquid supplement help with that?

Well, the liquid supplement helped because 98% absorbs into the body within 3 minutes into your bloodstream.

And is it absorbed through like, like sublingual tissues or does it go through the digestive tract like everything else? Or how does— what is that absorption mechanism?

Absorbs into your body and it goes into your immune system and then it protects everything there. And, you know, and you start really enjoying it because it tastes great too, even though there's nothing bad in it, no sugar, no anything. And so before you know it, it's, you know, it's there and you're doing it and you take it. I'm still taking it daily now. I'm 85. So that was 25 years ago that I created it. I started it because I promised God way back that I would pay him back once I got to the stage in my life started. And this is how I did it, by creating this charity and then working with handicapped and abused children and their families. Because we still recently, we paid the mortgage for a whole year for a woman to have 3 kids and the husband died on the way to work. And we read about it and she was disastrously, just, she was going to commit suicide. But then we saved her from that. And then we agreed to give her some money and agreed to pay her mortgage so she and her kids can live, trying to start a new life. So, it's this and many, many, many, many other things that we do for kids and their families.

And, does most of the funding for that come from the vitamin sales or do you raise all of it up?

Yeah. And then, some of our customers that read about us that are able to, they send money to a charity sometimes from time to time here and there, $5,000, $10,000, $20,000. And so, that all helps too.

The story about paying the mortgage for the mom, that is really compelling, and that, that just, you know, feels really good. Do you have other stories of families or kids that you've touched?

I cannot go into detail, but there's so much misery in the world, you know, it's hard to imagine. And we, whatever we learn or find out, we, we start stepping in and help all the way. Yeah. Yeah.

And how did you find the process of setting up a nonprofit, you know, the charity side of things?

Well, when I came to America and I had promised God in my prayers over the years that I would do something like that. So I asked many people how to go about it. And then finally, I was able to register such a charity and build it up and start working with kids and so forth. And from one thing come another, before we knew it, we were all over the place.

Wow. How much time do you spend working on Passion for Kids? Or do you have other people run it for you?

No, my wife and I spent Probably close to as much time with that than we do with our vitamin company. Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah.

All right. Yeah.

Do you, do you find that you prefer one over the other?

No, no. If, if it is, it is my charity. Okay. I really feel good way back what I went through, and I'm able to help a lot of these kids today. So yeah, yeah. But we need to work hard to make it all happen.

What kind of Thoughts or advice do you have for people? Because when we hear people say that they can't do something for a variety of reasons, right? Everybody has reasons why they can't do things. I would argue that you probably had more reasons than most, but you were able to do it.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Pray about it, be positive, and don't ever keep whining about you cannot do it ever, no matter what it is. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, that's a really powerful mindset. How else do you take care of yourself? I mean, you're 85, you look great, you're still busy, you're still active. So, what are the things you do to maintain? I mean, I know you take the vitamins. Do you have any other practices, rituals, habits?

We work hard and we travel hard to find more people. And yeah, you just move on. Once you're in that situation, you just move on. And that's what we do. We just, we don't sit there and pout. We just move on because we've been successful so far with both issues, creating the company and helping children in need. So yeah, you just do it, believe it and do it.

Right. Well, and what's, are you, are you excited about anything coming up? Are you working on anything new? Well, I'm 85, so Somehow that doesn't seem to be an obstacle, or for me, I'm not perceiving that as an obstacle for you.

Maybe one day sell the company.

Okay.

Something new. Yeah. Other people, if they would operate it like we do, they could do so much better than we even do. Because, you know, we're 85 and I mean, I'm 85, so we're way up there and we're not as fast as we'd like to be from the past. But yeah, it can all be done. And we're working hard trying to find the right combination with the right people to take over what we're doing.

An exit like that takes a little while to plan. So yeah, I was just wondering what you're doing to get things in order for that eventual exit.

Keep talking to people, keep touching people, keep reaching out and just pass the word around. You know, people talk from one to another. Oh, I have friends this, I have friends that. So a couple of times, you know, we already had people that wanted to buy our company. And that's what we like to do after all these years of hard work. But they wouldn't give us enough, you know. We want to make sure that we have enough money, not only to recuperate, but also to do what we want to do to help other children all over the place. Yeah. So yeah, yeah.

What's the name of your vitamin company, Charles? Sorry, what's the name of your vitamin company?

Passion Number Four Health.

Passion Number Four Health. Okay, gotcha.

Forhealthvitamins.com. All right.

And do you have an online store, or they can they get it in retail brick-and-mortar places?

Online store on our website and on Amazon.

Okay. All right. Oh, so you've got— okay, so people can buy it.

Relatively really inexpensive for what it is. You know, we're talking about $39 for a whole month's supply. If you go to health food stores and buy all these ingredients, 100 ingredients individually, you're looking at $200, $300, which gives you so much energy. It's just mind-boggling. It's hard to explain it all and just sit there and listen to it. But if you start it every day, because that's the secret, You need to take it every day. If you only take, well, once in a while a little shot, that doesn't do it. You got to take it every day, 1 ounce. Get a 30-ounce bottle, put it in the fridge, shake it up in the morning, pour an ounce, take it in the morning, afternoon, evening, doesn't matter. With or without food, doesn't matter. And before you know it, you're a different person.

So do you have any words of wisdom or advice for people starting companies that you wish you knew when you were starting?

It's hard work to start a business. It's hard work. You know, you need to be prepared properly and you need to know what you're doing. You need to reach out to the right contacts to help you. And that's what I did.

That's amazing. Well, Charles, I really appreciate you spending some time with me today. I found your story compelling on so many different levels, and I really appreciate you spending time and sharing it.

Happy to do it. God bless you.

You too.

Mentioned in this episode