Independence
Day is this week in the United States. It’s
a time when we celebrate freedom to live the lives we want, which certainly
includes the ability to pursue our dreams.
July 4th is also a special day for my family. My dad was born on the 4th, and
this year he celebrates his 70th birthday. In his honor, I’ve decided to share one of
his favorite weekly stories with you, which happens to be one of my favorites
too…
Harry
stood out from the other kids. He had
more street smarts than book smarts, but perhaps that’s what growing up poor
produces. Harry’s grandfather was in the
garbage removal business and many people looked down on him for it. Even Harry’s own father didn’t want anything
to do with it. Harry was different. He liked everything about big trucks, and he didn’t
mind getting dirty.
Very
few people aspire to become garbage men, and so Harry tried college first. To help pay for school, he pumped gas at a
local station and drove a dump truck part time.
But he soon decided that he wasn’t cut out for college. At the beginning of his sophomore year, Harry
decided to drop out. He joined the Army,
but after a few years, he still felt lost.
It was time for him to pursue his passion, no matter what others thought
about him.
One
of his high school friends saw Harry driving the garbage truck, and thought
that he must’ve hit rock bottom. Harry
would drive the truck from 2:30 in the morning until noon picking up
garbage. Then he spent the afternoons
knocking on doors trying to get new customers to sign up for his route. His hard work paid off. Little by little, he would add customers until
there were enough to buy another used truck and hire another driver. Within a few years, Harry had accumulated
over 40 trucks, and merged his business with another garbage removal company in
Chicago.
Then
he had an even bigger idea. He decided
to buy smaller garbage companies all over the United States and join them into
one big company. Over the span of twelve
years, he acquired over 150 garbage companies, and by the time he was 37, Harry
Wayne Huizenga (pronounced High-zinga) was a multi-millionaire. His company, Waste Management, Inc., was the
largest garbage removal business on the planet, and its stock was being traded
on the New York Stock Exchange.
A
dozen years later, Wayne (he prefers to be called by his middle name) ventured
into a new business but used the same strategy.
He bought a small video rental chain for $7 million, then began acquiring
hundreds of mom and pop video stores. In
less than 10 years, Wayne owned over 3,700 stores and his company, Blockbuster
Video, was valued at over $4 billion. Blockbuster
was the second company Wayne took to the New York Stock Exchange, and he later
sold Blockbuster for over $8 billion.
When
I met Wayne, he told me about his latest venture, the first national chain of
car dealerships that he’d named AutoNation. He eventually grew AutoNation to 370 stores,
and it became the first car dealership to go public on the New York Stock
Exchange. Wayne also has the distinction
of having owned three professional sports teams: football’s Miami Dolphins, baseball’s Florida
Marlins, and hockey’s Florida Panthers. A
friend of ours joked that Wayne did pretty well for himself, especially for a
garbage man.
They
say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and there was never a truer
example than Wayne’s story of turning actual trash into a fortune. How often do we let outside opinions get in
the way of our dreams? It’s time to
embrace the 100% Accountable mindset
and stop getting bogged down by other people’s ideas of what you can or should
do. Clear away the refuse, find what you
love, and pursue it with everything you’ve got.
Until
next week…
Live
Your Dreams
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