This is a question that I don't think business owners/entrepreneurs are asked enough.
What was your childhood like? (did you have a good or bad time growing up)
And what did you like to DO as a child? (kid stuff, sell candy at school, or something else?
Successful entrepreneurs, what was your childhood like?
byu/Fireoa- inEntrepreneur
Posted by Fireoa-
25 Comments
I grew up with 11 siblings.
I will say I am the entrepreneurial one out of the bunch, besides my mother, who’s a politician.
I made my first $20 trading pokemon cards at school at 7 years old haha! I can’t say I always had the drive, but I always had to buy what I wanted. So to play football, or basketball and afford cleats or the uniform, I had to find the money on my own. This may have helped.
Didn’t grow up wealthy, not exactly poor, but certainly not middle class.
Many life lessons learned as a young African-American. It was not always easy, but my “hard” experiences make life look like a walk in the park today!
Horrible. Dad went to prison, mom a gambling addict; lived with my grandparents for several years. If there was kool-aid in the fridge, it was a good day. No A/C during scoring summers. Hotdogs, hamburgers, pot roast, tacos being the rotated meals for year. The list goes on and on. Make the best of your life and understand that if in such predicaments, no one is coming to save you. Save yourself.
Poor-ish, bullied a bit when young. Dad was a failure in many ways but both parents were confidence-inspiring well-meaning people who did everything with us. After care every day after school while they taught and then did sports. Worried about $ a lot growing up. Parental $ stress was on us 100% as kids. All good overall. Helped with motivation.
Grew up with a lot of anxiety. No major self doubt issues though or depression.
Not a success imo, but compared to avg I am. Made 8-figure NW from -$30K in debt from uni by early 30s. Working still but on fun things I own.
I sold personalized candles and Christmas cards door to door. As soon as I could drive, I worked for 2 local companies to get experience in sales (one telemarketing and one retail). I also remember reading Entrepreneur magazine as a child and teen to get ideas and inspiration.
Washington Post route of 167 houses at 9.
Back when Sunday delivery would be 4 hrs versus the daily two hours.
Hired peers to help with Sundays. Paid them $10/hr cash.
Age 15: ran off 5000 handwritten flyers at Staples, and set my mind straight to deliver all 5000 in a weekend. Finished late Saturday and when I got that first phone call on Sunday morning, it was so great!
Mowed lawns for $20, and that price point was in a starburst pattern on the ad.
I lived in a luxury neighborhood so the customers were all top sales guys or business owners themselves. One of my customers opened the first GNC in Virginia, so these guys saw trends no one else cared about…..
Sold that company four years later with 125 weekly customers.
Started core aeration/seeding company with a custom cut Astro van shaped like a pickup.
Made more $$$$ in the two months BEFORE Summer mowing season and two month post mowing season, than mowing 125 houses a week for the Summer.
Larger company bought the seeding company and equipment. Used that cash and Bought my first property for $55k and rented it out. Saw that over 50% of the condo ownership was NOO, and started writing letters to owners letting them know that prices could fall bc FHA no longer insuring ANY new loans. Picked up three more u it’s this way.
Mom always told me: “you gotta own your own business” before I could read
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet.
My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.
My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we’d make meat helmets.
When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds – pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe.
At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. At the age of 18, I went off to evil medical school. At the age of 25, I took up tap dancing. I wanted to be a quadruple threat — an actor, dancer…
I came from an upper middle class family, so I already know my childhood is more privileged than other kids.
When I was in elementary school, my parents weren’t forcing me to go to school dances, learn golf, learn ballet, whatever. They were straight up pushing me to do a lemonade stand, hot dog stand, similar stands.
By the time I got into middle school, my parents pushed me into a business-focused school. I literally spent so much time figuring out how to make things profitable, rather than learning about US History. (We still had to do history, of course, state exams)
By the time I was in high school, my entire focus/lens/view was “how to make money when learning THIS” rather than “ok let’s fucking learn this to get an A on the AP.”
It’s a TOTALLY different mentality, which really puts you in a different block of life.
For instance, ok sure I excelled in doing scholarship applications. What did my dad suggest? “Bitch, you 17? You get no allowance in about 3 months. Go sell your scholarship application knowledge as a service.”
Yeah. Entrepreneurs are a different breed. For some of us, it starts since childhood
My childhood consisted of 3 parts. 1. Fun 2. Hardwork 3. Family
We used to live on a golf course in a very nice neighborhood.
This was around the time that the Playstation came out. At the time of its release, most all games used cartridges. The PlayStation was a massive leap ahead of anything any other kids had been playing, so we were all losing our minds to get our hands on it.
Not only that, but there were also tons and tons of games available. Whereas, its competitor, the Nintendo 64, was still clutching onto the cartridge system and no developers wanted a part of it.
My parents wouldn’t get it for me so I started collecting golf balls that accidentally landed in our backyard.
I would then go and sell them to people on the golf course, at a discount from their original price of 2 for $1.50. I’d sell for 3 for $1. I was able to quickly save up money.
Most of the executives that were playing golf didn’t even need more golf balls—I could see their bags full of them. I think they just appreciated my entrepreneurial spirit.
In turn, I was able to quickly save up enough money for a Playstation.
I had a loving family, but we were very poor. Just the thought of being poor drives me to work 10-17 hours every day.
My dad was rich before i was born (ferraris and porshe rich) but a bit before i was born he lost it all . Ig i always wanted to be rich byt i never had tbe discipline or motivation until i saw andrew tate on my youtube shorts one day, since then i starting going to the gym, later quiting bad habits, then i tried makinf money online
Childhood was pretty good, had supportive parents (they still are).
Moved to Venezuela when I was 6. Dad was a taxi driver, mom raised us. No AC, there’s no winter there, perennial summer, just like Florida. It was a good childhood other than the hot nights and sometimes just having beans to eat, had amazing neighborhood friends and amazing parents.
When the economical crisis started in Venezuela, I noticed how engineers, doctors, lawyers who are always supposed to have good income were starting to become poor. The average income in Venezuela is $40 -$250 a month. Although those who had their** own businesses were doing Allright. I understood then, having a business is the best way to have reliable income, anywhere in the world. I started my first business when I was 18. I learnt alot being in Venezuela, I had a successful business there, here is way easier. I’m just getting ready ✨✨✨
Pretty crap. Parents have mental health issues and I was basically independent since I was 11.
As bad as it gets. Still have not made it, but it is motivating reading through everyone’s stories. Thanks for the post 💥
Born in a third world country family was middle class, dad was a smoker and a sex addict mother was oppressed, My school years were pretty bad got bulled in school all the time wanted to kms at 12, wanted to leave my country for a better life my parents didn’t care
I escaped my country 5 years ago i’m a migrant for now trying to make it, its tough but i’m not giving up!!
Horrendous. Didn’t have the luxury of doing what I “liked” to do – was more focused on survival.
i made a youtube channel where i created and released minecraft texture packs for pvp
It was great until it wasn’t, from what I could tell then. I grew up in a trailer park/ bouncing around from apartment to apartment with a single mother for the first seven years of my life. Of course, I don’t remember a ton from that time, but nothing significant stands out. Stepfather came in around that time, and all was great until about 14, as their marriage deteriorated while the addiction they were each dealing with intensified (pills and coke for mom and beer for stepdad) 14-26 was rough, ultimately spending 12 years fighting, in and out of contact while I was in the army, getting married, and having children. Mom finally got straight and met my kids for the first time about a year and a half ago before getting diagnosed with pancreatic cancer roughly six months after that. Unfortunately, she lost that battle in March. Ex-stepfather spent three weeks in the hospital last year due to alcohol withdrawal and a medically induced coma. All that aside, my two business partners and I have grown our business from zero, starting in October of 2019, to now, where we’re currently on pace to net 1 million gross profit off of 6-7 million in sales!
If I write out the truth here it will just sound like I’m attention seeking.
Sufficed to say, it wasn’t good. It could have been much worse though.
In the end, I was able to build relationships with my successful grandparents and turn things around. Otherwise, I’d be in trouble rather than FIRE in my late 30s.
In youth, I had dozens of businesses. Any time I could. Including porn site and backyard wrestling as two examples — ah to be 13 again.
Born visually impaired. Dad was randomly robbed and murdered when I was 5. Grew up always worried about money, still worry today. All I’ve wanted is to feel safe, protected and comfortable with finances. At 46 with one failed business under my belt, I refuse to give up until I get myself to a secure place!
Shitty.
Grew up in a physically and mentally abusive and toxic household. Very selfish parents, where everything was conditional. They spent money only on themselves while I spent my whole life up until 16 trying to make them happy with me.
The good times were always at my friends’ houses where I could forget everything at home. I used to have to escape without telling my parents as I was never allowed to see friends.
Weird looking back tbh, but i didn’t think twice about the excuses I made to the headteachers as to why I’ve got bruises on my head and a fat lip etc. etc.
It’s only the last 5-10 years or so that I’ve realised I’m where I am because of all that. But it didn’t come without its mental struggles.
Zero supervision. No father. No rules. Very poor.
I always loved to create and identify things that could be better and make them better. As far back as I can remember, I would challenge myself to find different ways to get to a similar solution, especially in math. Teachers would often direct me to do equations a certain way and I would actively challenge myself to find alternative ways to arrive at the same answer.
It was rough in many ways from about age 6 and on. I stopped giving people excerpts from my life story about 12 years ago. Growing up rough definitely contributed to being able to handle anything thrown my way in life and business.
I was always out on my bike, blades, or shooting hoops when I was young. Active in sports in school. Got into trouble in high school quite a bit. Cars and street racing. I did have an entrepreneurial mind early on, as I was constantly making deals to trade things.