The law of income is clear and simple: you will be paid directly in proportion to the value you’re bringing to the market. And since this is a free market, only the sky is the limit. So why some folks, like Howard Schultz, have more than others if all things are being equal?
Things ARE being equal; don’t make any mistake about it
Howard Schultz grew up in a poor residential block of Brooklyn. He lived in a 2-bedroom apartment together with his parents, his brother and his sister.
When he was 7, his father broke the ankle and lost his job as a truck driver. The family found itself in a desperate situation.
After the recovery, his father kept going from one dead-end job to another. “My father never truly recovered,” said Schultz, “I saw him losing his confidence day after day even though it was obvious to me that he could do much more with his life.”
The school where Howard gained formal education was a restless place. Too many students and only a few concrete playgrounds made impossible to keep everybody occupied. If you’ve lost the game, for example, you had to wait an hour or more for your turn. So Howard made every effort to keep his team winning.
It was common for him to come home with nasty wounds on his elbows and knees. His mother used to treat the wounds gently like a mother does. While she was cleaning his cuts and bruises, she was constantly repeating one thing to Howard: “You never give up, don’t you, dear?” And that was true.
Schultz’ competitive character got him a college grant and diploma in a field of Communication Studies.
Right after graduation, Schultz started to work as a sales representative for Xerox in New York. Each day Schultz would visit offices in New York, floor by floor, selling toners.
After a while, Howard changed his employer and got the job in a company that manufactured parts made of plastic. It was there when he noticed how one particular restaurant in Seattle is constantly ordering coffee machines and spare parts. Howard Schultz found that peculiar so he decided to fly to Seattle.
“It was the love on first sight. I actually fell in love with that company,” said Schultz on one occasion.
Two years later, when he heard that Starbucks is for sales (there were only 6 restaurants at the time), he borrowed the money and bought the company. That was in 1987. Only three years later Starbucks grew to 84 restaurants and six years later there were more than thousand. Today, there are 17,000 Starbucks restaurants in 50 countries.
Howard Schultz made well over a billion and is known as one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 20th century.
As you can see, all things are being equal. Howard Schultz, Steve Jobs, Andrew Carnegie, Elon Musk and many others are living proofs that you can be raised in a poor environment with limited formal education potentials and still become extremely successful.
What is the determining factor?
It’s the POWER OF WILL. Nothing more, nothing less. While most of Howard’s friends from his younger days ended up in prison or got hooked on drugs, he became a billionaire.
It has much to do with the support coming from your closest social environment because if you keep telling people that they can succeed they will prove you right. In Howard’s case, that was his mother who was constantly asking questions like: When will you study tonight? What will you do tomorrow? How do you know that you have prepared yourself for the exam?
As it turned out, that taught Howard to plan. He simply repeated this recipe on his employees by focusing on their personal development and everything fit in perfectly.
If you’ve been reading us regularly then you know that the power of will is something that can be easily upgraded and strengthen. You can enhance your willpower same as you can bulk up your muscles.
You only have to DECIDE. Without clear and coherent DECISION, everything is in vain. DECIDE that YOU WILL SUCCEED and you will do it. No question about it. Because what you focus on expands! Just like Howard Schultz did.
