Marcus Lemonis to millennials: Take any job you can get, and don't live with your parents

Years before Marcus Lemonis became the CEO of billion-dollar company Camping World or invested in dozens of other businesses, he was like most other college graduates — except for one small detail.

After graduating from Marquette University in 1995, the then-22-year-old ran for public office. Lemonis lost his bid for the Florida House of Representatives, despite an endorsement from The Miami Herald, and switched career paths. He moved into automotive sales, and then into the camping and the RV business.

Going straight from college into the working world helped Lemonis find his career path and shaped his work ethic.

Here are two difficult things the entrepreneur and star of CNBC's "The Profit" says every recent college grad needs to do:

1. Get any job you can find

"Take any job you can just to get into the momentum of having a calendar," Lemonis says, "a schedule of getting up on Monday morning and finishing on Friday night."

"Your first fall back should not be to work for your family business," Lemonis says. "Go work for somebody else, somebody that could and will fire you."

While it may be tempting to relax all summer, the entrepreneur says these months are crucial to getting started in your career.

"I know you're historically used to summer break, but summer break is over," he says. "Get a job."

2. Don't live with your parents

While many millennials move back home for years in order to save money and figure out their career paths, he says getting out into the real world is a better option.

"My best advice for the graduating class of 2017 would be don't stay home too long," he says. "Do your own damn laundry, and cook your own food, and get your own job. Pay your own bills."

If you can't find a paid internship or job in the field you're interested in, take any gig you can land, even if it pays only $12 per hour, the multi-millionaire says.

"It's better than you sitting at home making zero dollars," he says.

Check out the one productivity trick Lemonis uses every day.