Hey everyone,
I wish I had this kind of success story, but I'll never have anything like this, and probably you won't too. Because I strongly feel none of us had 4 years of education here.
This is the story of my hero, my father.
I'm not a native speaker and I'm not good at writing and using fancy hypnotic words so this story might get dull. I'm really sorry for that.
This is how my dad switched lanes without knowing what he was doing.
Born and raised in a small town in Skopje, Yugoslavia (Veles, Macedonia today) my father only had the chance to get 4 years of primary education. Finishing school without even knowing what a decimal or a square root is. He only had the knowledge to basic number properties in maths.
At the age of 18 in 1959, when his father died of throat cancer he was the head of the household of 6. Actually as the oldest boy in family he was kind of like the head of the household since he was 12.
Whole family decided to immigrate to Turkey for a better life, escaping from the hard living conditions of socialism. They only had enough money to rent a 2 bedroom slum in Istanbul when they arrived.
So they did and my father immediately went to work, selling drinking water on streets, that was before the bottled water was popular in my country. Because he has no permit as a street vendor he got arrested one time.
Working at low-paying jobs he struggled. He joined army because of the military obligation. After 2 years of military service he started his job as a goverment employee, a ticket salesman in buses.
Due to a misdiagnosis he had a big percent of his stomach removed. 1 year off from work, with no pay, can't even afford a loaf of bread. Borrowing from everyone to feed his family.
When he got back to work, he worked for 12 hours a day to make some extra money to pay his debt.
One day while he was walking around in the city center, he saw an old woman, poorly dressed and looking really sad, nearly crying and holding a radio. A broken radio she wants to sell for 2 liras. For some bread money to feed herself and maybe her family. My father felt bad for her and bought that radio and went home to see if he can repair it. The only electronic device he posessed in his life was another radio, and he fixed his old radio a couple times before.
Trying and failing for hours, he finally fixed the broken one. Went to the same spot he bought that radio and sold it for 10 liras. He made a profit!
After some research he made his mind to start manufacturing electronic goods and found out that people are really in need of power adapters as there is only one person doing the business. (I was illegal to import those back then) He bought one and disassambled it. With help from a tech-savvy friend he learned how to reassemble it.
Went on to buy parts and make a few, sold them on the streets. He finally started his business.
Took the night shift at the job and because of his health conditions he was repositioned as a watchman at the bus terminal.
He stood in his small hut and assembled adapters for 12 hours at night and sold them in the morning. Slept only 4 hours daily, with no day off.
When he realized that his new venture made him three times more money, he decided to quit. Bribed his superior out of his compensation claim just to get fired with money and he did it, he rented a store for his business in 1974.
From power adapters to CB Radios and car phones he produced every kind of accessory for the most recent technology. In a few years he was a success and had enough money to retire, he was wealthy along the way and also a millionaire. But didn't stop there.
In 1994, when the first GSM network started building their infrastructure in Turkey, he was ready for the next big thing. He already bought a few phone models from Germany and started producing accessories for them. Called his wholesale customers to inform them that he's going into the cell phone market and has supply ready. So, even before the first cell phone call was made here he was selling cell phone related products.
Built a big and shiny factory from only one year's profit and hired best engineers of the industry. He was a multi-millionaire with only 4 years of education.
After he passed his business to my older brother, he retired with at least $8 million net worth (growing) and a huge steady passive income.
He's now 71, looks younger than 60 and feels younger than 30. Invested in real estate, hated the stock market and bank interests and all that other useless financial promises. Bought everything in cash and never applied for a bank loan.
I asked him 'If you are left homeless with no money at all, can you become a millionaire again?'
The answer was simple: 'In the shortest time possible'
Thank you for reading, by the way, the small town he was born and raised in was named 'Krushje'
I wish I had this kind of success story, but I'll never have anything like this, and probably you won't too. Because I strongly feel none of us had 4 years of education here.
This is the story of my hero, my father.
I'm not a native speaker and I'm not good at writing and using fancy hypnotic words so this story might get dull. I'm really sorry for that.
This is how my dad switched lanes without knowing what he was doing.
Born and raised in a small town in Skopje, Yugoslavia (Veles, Macedonia today) my father only had the chance to get 4 years of primary education. Finishing school without even knowing what a decimal or a square root is. He only had the knowledge to basic number properties in maths.
At the age of 18 in 1959, when his father died of throat cancer he was the head of the household of 6. Actually as the oldest boy in family he was kind of like the head of the household since he was 12.
Whole family decided to immigrate to Turkey for a better life, escaping from the hard living conditions of socialism. They only had enough money to rent a 2 bedroom slum in Istanbul when they arrived.
So they did and my father immediately went to work, selling drinking water on streets, that was before the bottled water was popular in my country. Because he has no permit as a street vendor he got arrested one time.
Working at low-paying jobs he struggled. He joined army because of the military obligation. After 2 years of military service he started his job as a goverment employee, a ticket salesman in buses.
Due to a misdiagnosis he had a big percent of his stomach removed. 1 year off from work, with no pay, can't even afford a loaf of bread. Borrowing from everyone to feed his family.
When he got back to work, he worked for 12 hours a day to make some extra money to pay his debt.
One day while he was walking around in the city center, he saw an old woman, poorly dressed and looking really sad, nearly crying and holding a radio. A broken radio she wants to sell for 2 liras. For some bread money to feed herself and maybe her family. My father felt bad for her and bought that radio and went home to see if he can repair it. The only electronic device he posessed in his life was another radio, and he fixed his old radio a couple times before.
Trying and failing for hours, he finally fixed the broken one. Went to the same spot he bought that radio and sold it for 10 liras. He made a profit!
After some research he made his mind to start manufacturing electronic goods and found out that people are really in need of power adapters as there is only one person doing the business. (I was illegal to import those back then) He bought one and disassambled it. With help from a tech-savvy friend he learned how to reassemble it.
Went on to buy parts and make a few, sold them on the streets. He finally started his business.
Took the night shift at the job and because of his health conditions he was repositioned as a watchman at the bus terminal.
He stood in his small hut and assembled adapters for 12 hours at night and sold them in the morning. Slept only 4 hours daily, with no day off.
When he realized that his new venture made him three times more money, he decided to quit. Bribed his superior out of his compensation claim just to get fired with money and he did it, he rented a store for his business in 1974.
From power adapters to CB Radios and car phones he produced every kind of accessory for the most recent technology. In a few years he was a success and had enough money to retire, he was wealthy along the way and also a millionaire. But didn't stop there.
In 1994, when the first GSM network started building their infrastructure in Turkey, he was ready for the next big thing. He already bought a few phone models from Germany and started producing accessories for them. Called his wholesale customers to inform them that he's going into the cell phone market and has supply ready. So, even before the first cell phone call was made here he was selling cell phone related products.
Built a big and shiny factory from only one year's profit and hired best engineers of the industry. He was a multi-millionaire with only 4 years of education.
After he passed his business to my older brother, he retired with at least $8 million net worth (growing) and a huge steady passive income.
He's now 71, looks younger than 60 and feels younger than 30. Invested in real estate, hated the stock market and bank interests and all that other useless financial promises. Bought everything in cash and never applied for a bank loan.
I asked him 'If you are left homeless with no money at all, can you become a millionaire again?'
The answer was simple: 'In the shortest time possible'
Thank you for reading, by the way, the small town he was born and raised in was named 'Krushje'
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