My first job was a paper route so I must be doing something right. Now 
fftopic:
Tom
From paper routes to gas stations, where America's richest took their first steps on the road to wealth.
Mark Zuckerberg is a rarity among billionaires -- he hit the jackpot with his first full-time job. Facebook, the social networking site Zuckerberg founded while a sophomore at Harvard in 2004, took off almost immediately, and he hasn't looked back. As of March he was worth an estimated $4 billion.
Many other billionaires started off small and worked their way up. Charles Schwab picked and bagged walnuts at orchards around Sacramento, Calif. Dole's David Murdock, who quit school after the ninth grade, changed oil and greased car parts at a gas station before being drafted into the Army. Banking billionaire Andrew Beal fixed used TV sets and sold them door-to-door to poor families. During high school Steve Jobs scored a summer job at tech pioneer Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News), where he met Steve Wozniak. The pair founded Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL - News) together in 1976.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI - News) founder Barry Diller is one of the many entertainment moguls who began their Hollywood careers in the agent-training program of talent agency William Morris, a program nicknamed the mailroom because it started out with a rotation through that department.
Paper routes are among the most common first jobs of Forbes 400 members. Patrick McGovern, T. Boone Pickens, Dennis Washington, and Sheldon Adelson all started off slinging newspapers before making their fortunes.
Though the jobs may seem menial, these billionaires-to-be made the most of their first work experiences. As a 12-year-old, Adelson, the future richest man in Las Vegas, borrowed $200 from an uncle to buy the right to sell newspapers on two busy corners in Boston. Oilman-to-be Pickens also showed zeal as a 12-year-old paperboy, quickly expanding his 28-house paper route to 156 by taking over the routes of his competitors.
Patrick McGovern, founder of the technology media, events, and research company International Data Group, says he learned several important lessons as a paperboy.
"The key lesson that I learned was how to manage one's time effectively. I learned to be proud of what you do and to strive for excellence in service. And I learned to remember that your job is to find customers and keep them happy," says McGovern.
Putting the customer first is a practice that has stuck with McGovern even as his influence has expanded beyond the local paper route.
"What I learned was the orientation of doing all you can to help make your customers successful," McGovern says. "This has proved to be an invaluable business practice which has stayed with me throughout my career."
IDG reaches over 200 million people in 95 countries, and McGovern's emphasis on customer service rewarded him richly; he is worth an estimated $3.1 billion.
Go to the link for more information on some billionaires first jobs.
billionaires-first-jobs: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
fftopic:Tom
From paper routes to gas stations, where America's richest took their first steps on the road to wealth.
Mark Zuckerberg is a rarity among billionaires -- he hit the jackpot with his first full-time job. Facebook, the social networking site Zuckerberg founded while a sophomore at Harvard in 2004, took off almost immediately, and he hasn't looked back. As of March he was worth an estimated $4 billion.
Many other billionaires started off small and worked their way up. Charles Schwab picked and bagged walnuts at orchards around Sacramento, Calif. Dole's David Murdock, who quit school after the ninth grade, changed oil and greased car parts at a gas station before being drafted into the Army. Banking billionaire Andrew Beal fixed used TV sets and sold them door-to-door to poor families. During high school Steve Jobs scored a summer job at tech pioneer Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News), where he met Steve Wozniak. The pair founded Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL - News) together in 1976.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI - News) founder Barry Diller is one of the many entertainment moguls who began their Hollywood careers in the agent-training program of talent agency William Morris, a program nicknamed the mailroom because it started out with a rotation through that department.
Paper routes are among the most common first jobs of Forbes 400 members. Patrick McGovern, T. Boone Pickens, Dennis Washington, and Sheldon Adelson all started off slinging newspapers before making their fortunes.
Though the jobs may seem menial, these billionaires-to-be made the most of their first work experiences. As a 12-year-old, Adelson, the future richest man in Las Vegas, borrowed $200 from an uncle to buy the right to sell newspapers on two busy corners in Boston. Oilman-to-be Pickens also showed zeal as a 12-year-old paperboy, quickly expanding his 28-house paper route to 156 by taking over the routes of his competitors.
Patrick McGovern, founder of the technology media, events, and research company International Data Group, says he learned several important lessons as a paperboy.
"The key lesson that I learned was how to manage one's time effectively. I learned to be proud of what you do and to strive for excellence in service. And I learned to remember that your job is to find customers and keep them happy," says McGovern.
Putting the customer first is a practice that has stuck with McGovern even as his influence has expanded beyond the local paper route.
"What I learned was the orientation of doing all you can to help make your customers successful," McGovern says. "This has proved to be an invaluable business practice which has stayed with me throughout my career."
IDG reaches over 200 million people in 95 countries, and McGovern's emphasis on customer service rewarded him richly; he is worth an estimated $3.1 billion.
Go to the link for more information on some billionaires first jobs.
billionaires-first-jobs: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
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