GoKawiilListen to this post
Key Takeaways America’s wealthy are no longer limited to a small class of tech billionaires or celebrities.
Millionaires often live in plain sight as local veterinarians, contractors and restaurant owners.
These familiar members of their communities often started from scratch.
Fifty years ago, Dick Portillo didn’t expect to become a millionaire. When he opened a hot dog stand in 1963 with $1,100, he didn’t even know how to cook a hot dog.
“I came from a poor family, and at one time thought I didn’t have anything to offer the world,” Portillo wrote in his memoir, titled Out of the Dog House. He explained that he grew up in one of Chicago’s most dangerous housing projects and was the youngest of three children born to immigrant parents from Mexico and Greece.
His humble beginnings didn’t stop him from working hard. He poured hours of effort into his hot dog business and, by 2014, had created the largest privately owned restaurant company in the Midwest. The company had 4,000 employees and no franchises or external investors. One Portillo’s location could generate up to $9 million in revenue per year.
In 2014, Portillo sold the company to private equity firm Berkshire Partners for nearly $1 billion. He used the money to buy a mansion in Chicago, a private jet and a waterfront home in Naples, Florida.
According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Portillo’s story is the kind that usually flies under the radar. He owned a private company, sold hot dogs and built his success gradually over decades in the Midwest. He wasn’t a tech billionaire or an overnight success.
Still, he is far from an exception. All across the country, business owners are quietly building serious wealth through companies that may look “ordinary” from the outside, per the Journal.
... continue reading