[On Valentine’s Day I E-filed my taxes and am so =
pleased that God has blessed me to live in a great nation and be able to =
do a tiny (thankfully) part to support it. I came from a poor =
inner-city family (I didn’t know we were poor since everyone I =
knew was in the same boat). But my parents instilled in me an ethic to =
serve God and serve others and, if I did that, my needs would be met =
with a satisfying and rewarding life. And they were right! =
I’m no fitting example of coming from poverty to remarkable =
success but love to hear stories of those who started with nothing (like =
most of us) and became hugely successful. It gives us all =
encouragement and hope. Here are a couple names you might =
recognize.]
URSULA BURNS =
grew up in a housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Before that =
area was cool, it was a hub for gangs. Burns was raised by her single =
mother who ran a daycare out of her home and ironed shirts so that she =
could afford to send Ursula to Catholic school. She went to NYU, and =
from there became an intern at Xerox. She became CEO/chairwoman of =
that company, the first African-American woman to be the head of a =
Fortune 500 Company. =
HOWARD =
SCHULTZ grew up in the Bayview projects of Canarsie, Brooklyn. He always =
wanted to climb ‘over-the-fence’ and go beyond the meager =
lifestyle provided by his truck-driving father. Despite destitution, he =
excelled at sports and earned a college football scholarship. After =
graduating with a degree in communications, Schultz discovered a small =
coffee shop called Starbucks. Enamored with the coffee, he left his =
managerial job to help expand this venture. He became the company’s =
chief executive in 1987. It began with 60 shops, and now has over 16,000 =
worldwide outlets. LEONARDO DEL =
VECCHIO was one of five children who could not be supported by his =
widowed mother, so he was placed in an orphanage. He went to work in a =
factory making plastic molds for small auto parts (he lost part of his =
hand working there). At 23, he opened his own molding shop for eyeglass =
frames, and is now the world’s largest maker of sunglasses (6,000 =
retail shops selling his Ray-Ban and Oakley lines) and prescription =
eye-ware (LensCrafters).
SHELDON ADELSON grew up in tenement =
housing in Massachusetts where he shared a single bedroom with his =
parents and three siblings. His father, a Lithuanian immigrant taxi =
driver, and his mother had a knitting shop. By age 12, he started =
selling newspapers on a corner and a few years later developed a vending =
machine system in the same neighborhood. He moved on to leasing, then =
owning buildings and into mortgage brokering. Fascinated with computers, =
he developed a trade show in Las Vegas for that field, turning profits =
from this into purchasing old hotel properties (like the Sands Hotel =
& Casino), and later building the mega-resort The Venetian. =
INGVAR =
KAMPRAD lived the farm life in Sweden growing up. He always had a knack =
for business, buying items like matches at wholesale from Stockholm to =
sell to his neighbors. He later expanded to fish, Christmas decorations, =
and pens. Not satisfied with the small stuff, Kamprad took money his =
father gave him as a reward for good grades and created a mail-order =
business for small assemble-yourself tables and shelves. He worked with =
local manufacturers to keep prices low and his one-person business =
(named from his initials plus those of his village and family farm) he =
called IKEA.
J.K. ROWLING found herself recently =
divorced and living on welfare as a single mom. Unable to hold a job =
raising her small daughter Jessica, she found herself walking the =
streets with a stroller (the best way to get the girl to sleep) and =
spending hours in small cafes and coffee shops. She loved reading and =
soon started writing pages for her “someday” book in those =
long hours. We know the books that made her a billionaire as the =
"Harry Potter" series.
family lived on a farm in =
Oklahoma during the Great Depression. To make ends meet, he brought in =
income by milking the cow and delivering milk to customers. He added =
delivering newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions house-to-house. By =
26, he was managing a variety store and later used $5,000 from the army =
to buy a Ben Franklin variety store in Arkansas. He leveraged these =
stores into his own discount chains he called Wal-Mart and Sam’s =
Club.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] www.grif.net =
"Jesus Knows Me, This I =
Love!"