re: Anyone have a good success story or know someone personally who does?

Nothing dramatic, but my dad's father walked out on his mom and sisters when he was 16. From there he worked a lot of random jobs to help them get by, ran some local/regional stuff for Nixon's reelection, and started in literally the mailroom for a local business that would become a multi billion dollar corporation down the road. Went mailroom to boardroom without a degree, took classes at night when I was a kid and had to do a ton of travel. Missed some birthdays and t-ball games and it really killed him. Worked for about 40 years paranoid that someone was going to take it all away from him because he had lawyers and MBAs working for him and he felt increasingly like a relic from another time. Retired a few years ago.

Now he is one lazy dude who watches the Braves and bitches about Gus Malzahn. American dream.