Thread: Millionaire with only 4 years of education

Hey everyone,

I wish I had this kind of success story, but I'll never have anything like this, and probably you won't too. Because I strongly feel none of us had 4 years of education here.

This is the story of my hero, my father.

I'm not a native speaker and I'm not good at writing and using fancy hypnotic words so this story might get dull. I'm really sorry for that.

This is how my dad switched lanes without knowing what he was doing.

Born and raised in a small town in Skopje, Yugoslavia (Veles, Macedonia today) my father only had the chance to get 4 years of primary education. Finishing school without even knowing what a decimal or a square root is. He only had the knowledge to basic number properties in maths.

At the age of 18 in 1959, when his father died of throat cancer he was the head of the household of 6. Actually as the oldest boy in family he was kind of like the head of the household since he was 12.

Whole family decided to immigrate to Turkey for a better life, escaping from the hard living conditions of socialism. They only had enough money to rent a 2 bedroom slum in Istanbul when they arrived.

So they did and my father immediately went to work, selling drinking water on streets, that was before the bottled water was popular in my country. Because he has no permit as a street vendor he got arrested one time.

Working at low-paying jobs he struggled. He joined army because of the military obligation. After 2 years of military service he started his job as a goverment employee, a ticket salesman in buses.

Due to a misdiagnosis he had a big percent of his stomach removed. 1 year off from work, with no pay, can't even afford a loaf of bread. Borrowing from everyone to feed his family.

When he got back to work, he worked for 12 hours a day to make some extra money to pay his debt.

One day while he was walking around in the city center, he saw an old woman, poorly dressed and looking really sad, nearly crying and holding a radio. A broken radio she wants to sell for 2 liras. For some bread money to feed herself and maybe her family. My father felt bad for her and bought that radio and went home to see if he can repair it. The only electronic device he posessed in his life was another radio, and he fixed his old radio a couple times before.

Trying and failing for hours, he finally fixed the broken one. Went to the same spot he bought that radio and sold it for 10 liras. He made a profit!

After some research he made his mind to start manufacturing electronic goods and found out that people are really in need of power adapters as there is only one person doing the business. (I was illegal to import those back then) He bought one and disassambled it. With help from a tech-savvy friend he learned how to reassemble it.

Went on to buy parts and make a few, sold them on the streets. He finally started his business.

Took the night shift at the job and because of his health conditions he was repositioned as a watchman at the bus terminal.

He stood in his small hut and assembled adapters for 12 hours at night and sold them in the morning. Slept only 4 hours daily, with no day off.

When he realized that his new venture made him three times more money, he decided to quit. Bribed his superior out of his compensation claim just to get fired with money and he did it, he rented a store for his business in 1974.

From power adapters to CB Radios and car phones he produced every kind of accessory for the most recent technology. In a few years he was a success and had enough money to retire, he was wealthy along the way and also a millionaire. But didn't stop there.

In 1994, when the first GSM network started building their infrastructure in Turkey, he was ready for the next big thing. He already bought a few phone models from Germany and started producing accessories for them. Called his wholesale customers to inform them that he's going into the cell phone market and has supply ready. So, even before the first cell phone call was made here he was selling cell phone related products.

Built a big and shiny factory from only one year's profit and hired best engineers of the industry. He was a multi-millionaire with only 4 years of education.

After he passed his business to my older brother, he retired with at least $8 million net worth (growing) and a huge steady passive income.

He's now 71, looks younger than 60 and feels younger than 30. Invested in real estate, hated the stock market and bank interests and all that other useless financial promises. Bought everything in cash and never applied for a bank loan.

I asked him 'If you are left homeless with no money at all, can you become a millionaire again?'
The answer was simple: 'In the shortest time possible'

Thank you for reading, by the way, the small town he was born and raised in was named 'Krushje'

Very cool story! Thanks for sharing.

Cool story, not very inspiring but cool nonetheless.

Thanks Max and Gold777.

Well, it's actually inspiring for most.

Because the most important thing people didn't have back then is everywhere now. Information and guidance. You have the fastest access to the information. There's no need to fail thousands of times when trying to build a business. Today, you easily know what would and wouldn't work and also how to make it work for yourself.

Not always you find the right information and guidance but you have the option to choose from many.

How on earth could someone share opinions from other countries on specific topics back in 70s. Like we do now.

Shifting the lane and changing the mindset is easier than ever. Because we see more people doing it and they are all around us.

Inspiring because in 70s people didn't have the advantages of technology, inspiring because someone with 4 years of education did succeed to make millions of dollars in an industry full of college-educated competitors and that didn't happen in the US. In an eurasian country and during a really bad economy.

Well, maybe not inspiring as some other rags to riches stories but as we both agree, it's cool

Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by krushje

Thanks Max and Gold777.

Well, it's actually inspiring for most.

Inspiring because in 70s people didn't have the advantages of technology, inspiring because someone with 4 years of education did succeed to make millions of dollars in an industry full of college-educated competitors and that didn't happen in the US. In an eurasian country and during a really bad economy.

Well, maybe not inspiring as some other rags to riches stories but as we both agree, it's cool

Thanks for reading

Yeah that's inspiring at all, but like you said in the 70's people didn't have the advantages of technology as they do today. So in today's world it's different, it's also a lot harder than just fixing radios and selling them and making millions. I would say it's a little inspiring and motivating because of the hardships he went through and how he emerged as a millionaire but overall no.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't say that to put anything down or try to bring a negative energy to the thread, but it sounds like he just got really lucky. Seeing or hearing about someone getting lucky just isn't inspirational, I could see if he was working on radios for years and years, and went step by step to do this and that, but it seems like he just found something that he could pick up on fast, sold it, then started selling it in bulk and found some wholesale connections, so on and so fourth.

It's simple, cool, great classic story, CLASSIC, love it actually but I'm guessing you posted this to inspire people and it just didn't hit the spot for me haha that's all.

Great story! Want more stories of success? Check out [Link Removed by Mod].

Originally Posted by Gold777

It's simple, cool, great classic story, CLASSIC, love it actually but I'm guessing you posted this to inspire people and it just didn't hit the spot for me haha that's all.

Yeah But i guess it's true that it's a lot complicated now. And because just like ourselves, everyone has the access to the same information and guidance, we always need to think of and add a spin to what we learn and make it work for us to outperform the competiton. Thanks for your opinions man.

Fantastic and very inspiring story krushje! Your Father is a great man and I hope you follow in his footsteps. Most of us in the West don't understand what Eastern Europe was like back then, I've heard the stories and seen the aftermath but it's still hard to comprehend. Thanks for posting, keep us updated with your progress.

Originally Posted by Gold777

it sounds like he just got really lucky

Originally Posted by krushje

He stood in his small hut and assembled adapters for 12 hours at night and sold them in the morning. Slept only 4 hours daily, with no day off.

It's funny how the harder you work the luckier you get.

Good read at 6 am. Makes me want to get out of bed and do something.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by PHD

It's funny how the harder you work the luckier you get.

I didn't say he didn't work hard, it's pretty evident that he did. I was referring to him "finding a girl sobbing with a broken radio", buying it from her, then fixing and selling it and having an epiphany that he could sell radios for a living. I don't think finding a girl sobbing with a broken radio and buying it from her took any hard work, but it was luck that he was able to be in the scene of that situation. I'm not discrediting his success in any way, shape, or form.

Originally Posted by Gold777

I didn't say he didn't work hard, it's pretty evident that he did. I was referring to him "finding a girl sobbing with a broken radio", buying it from her, then fixing and selling it and having an epiphany that he could sell radios for a living. I don't think finding a girl sobbing with a broken radio and buying it from her took any hard work, but it was luck that he was able to be in the scene of that situation. I'm not discrediting his success in any way, shape, or form.

Yes but being an entrepreneur is not about working harder its about working smarter. The ability to recognize the business opportunity and then taking action every day working towards that goal is what makes you successful. And life really is in many ways just as easy if not easier then fixing radios and selling them ever herd of the craigslist hustle. In many ways I agree that the competition is fierce right now due in part to the wealth of knowledge available to everybody but there is still opportunity if you know how to find it.

@krushje: Thank you very much for posting. While the story about your dad is not very inspirational it is motivational. To be honest, stories like this prevent me from giving up. There are ways to become rich fast, the problem is you have to find them and the search (as Felix Dennis calls it) can be very hard.

@Pete799p: Truth. I've heard and read that so many times and wish that someday somehow it'll be my turn to seize an opportunity to its fullest.