Sam Walton started his lifelong retail career in 1940. His first retail job was a sales trainee for J.C. Penney. And he was so good at sales that he was able to add about $25 a month, in commissions, to his salary. Sure, that doesn’t sound like much, by today’s standards, but it was a big plus back then. And Mr. Walton was a guy who didn’t exactly follow the “opportunity knocks” way of getting things done. No, he decided he’d do the knocking.
And get this…Sam’s boss, at J.C. Penney, told Sam he wasn’t cut out for retail boss.
Talk about the being on the wrong side of history…wow!
When Mr. Walton got out of the United States Army in 1945, he was already a family man. And he chose to go out on his own instead of just looking for a job.
There’s the first indicator that he didn’t wait to hear opportunity knocks on his door.
The next indicator is his willingness to invest in his own dreams and ideas. I read that he put up $5000 of his own money and borrowed another $20,000 from his father-in-law to buy his own Ben Franklin variety store. And that was in the little town of Newport, Arkansas. And Sam was only 27 years old.
I could go into the numbers and details about how Mr. Walton eventually turned that $25,000 into a multi-billion dollar business called Walmart. But you’ve probably heard a lot of that story. And once somebody becomes a billionaire, a lot of “regular” people don’t tend to relate to them anymore.
But I know you’re not a “regular” people…uh, person. Because you’re reading this blog post and interested in the back story. And that’s because you wanna be prepared for when opportunity knocks. But you also wanna do some of that knocking yourself. Right? You just wanna see if someone can help you avoid some of the pitfalls and financial challenges of going out on your own.
And maybe you can’t get $25,000 together to invest in yourself.
I get it. We’ve all been there at one time or another. And that’s why I put together some very affordable alternatives to help you get (and keep) some forward momentum. The most affordable option will cost you nothing. Just use the link, below, to sign up for my free emails. And I’ll share tips and strategies to help you find opportunities and do your own knocking.
So, if you wanna get moving, then take the next step. Click the link and sign up. And then…
Stay Ready,
Ronda