I have a wealthy friend who while working through college, became wealthy by eventually buying out a partner in the company where he worked at.  This was a risky but very successful move for him.

My friend (let’s call him Jay) was studying to be a mechanical engineer.  Jay comes from a family of 7 kids, and money was always tight for his parents so he had to pay his own way.  Every year, Jay had to work during college and during the summer.  He went through a few different temporary jobs, but the last one was with a small construction company.  At first, he worked as a construction worker, but eventually the owners of the company realized he was a smart kid and really good with numbers (plus he had people skills to boot).  So they hired him as an estimator/bidder for construction jobs.  He thrived at this, it was a great fit for him!

Jay graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, but never used it.  Instead he got lucky, one of the partners of the construction company decided to retire.  They offer Jay an opportunity to buy the retiring partner out (of course, the other partner retired very wealthy).  Jay, being a fresh out of school graduate, didn’t have the money, but said yes to the proposition (they worked out payment plan for him).

For the next 10 years, I didn’t see Jay much, he was constantly working, over 60+ hours a week (although we still kept in touch with an occasional game of tennis,  he also played in a basketball league).

Today, he’s a multimillionaire.  He still works long hours than most of us, but not over 60 anymore.

The point of this post, is that it’s still possible to get ahead with hard work and living a modest, frugal life.  Take Jay for example:

• Jay never owned a luxury car,
• his house is a little more expensive than mine (by  around $35,000 to $50,000 dollars more),
• he does a lot of DIY projects (I’ve seen him even install a new kitchen fluorescent lamp).
• You would think that since Jay is a multimillionaire, he’d hire people to do this yard work… but the doesn’t…  Every week during the summer, you’ll see him mowing 2 acres of his 10 acre property on his lawnmower.  You might be wondering why does he only mow 2 acres?  Well, he leases the other 8 acres to a local farmer.
• Jay still works over 50 hours a week, but by choice now (or maybe even habit).
• Jay still does the bidding and many other functions now.  He works very hard maximizing his return.

You might think that Jay is fortunate that he got lucky and was at the right time at the right place.  Yes, this is true, but I bet most young graduates would have passed on the offer (I know I would have).  Open your eyes to the possibilities around you.  You never know what may present itself through hard work and making smart decisions.

Jay, got a head because no matter where he worked, he gave it his all in a friendly likable manner (part of working intelligently)!

Do you have any personal successes stories to share, where you had to busting your butt to get ahead?  That’s what it takes sometimes!