re: Nobody makes themselves successful

The only friend I have that is a half a billionaire told me that he has been extremely lucky in his investments. He is only 37 and didn’t come from money. He never went to college. He started a commercial cleaning company when a junior in HS and 3 years later it was several divisions including restaurant kitchens, hotels, offices, etc.. He sold it and invested the proceeds into a finance company with 2 other dudes. He bought his partners out within a year because their impatience with projected deals that didn’t happen. Then he “fell” into a deal that he attributes entirely to luck and timing. He flew into the radar screen of a major financial investment company and they bought him out for $50m at age 25. He is now majority owner (usually 51%_60%) of many small to medium sized businesses. He puts up the start up capital for someone with a very good idea and business sense and lets them get rich while he gets richer. He has had some investments not pan out but has learned a lot about what is high risk vs a near sure thing. He has the money to have that latitude to make a mistake because he never puts in more than he is okay with losing($100k-$250k).

But yes, he attributes the first hit that made it all possible to timing and luck. Now he is just very discriminating in what he invests in and just grows his wealth organically. He has very little to do with the businesses he is majority owner.