Billionaires' First Jobs!!!

Have u seen a million dollar note before? keke ;p


This is the autographed million dollar note tt Kacey helped me get from Robert Allen when he was here in Singapore earlier this yr! =)


Came across this damn inspiring article tt i wanna share with all of u =)

(http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110242/billionaires-first-jobs?mod=career-leadership)

Btw, i was sharing on fb tt when leechie was in pri sch, i had always wanted to b cabin crew when i grow up (my sweet fren veronica commented tt it's "better to be served/dozing with mouth open in the seat!") n when i reached my teens, my family kinda expected tt i would b working in the fashion industry when i grow up cos leechie was a fashionable n stylish kid (n dear veronica was like it's "better to be the buyer/collector!") so i guess everyone was pretty much surprised by the direction tt i took ---> the path less travelled o.O but i have always wanted to b an author when i grow up...when i grow up, i wanna b a leech!!! ;p

N not many ppl know tt leechie first job was a promoter for haircare products...well, the short working hours n relatively handsome salary were really attractive then ;p it wasnt exactly the most glamorous job but i learnt many useful stuff tt we nvr learnt in sch (well, sch doesnt really prepare one for alot stuff in life, does it? ;p) mayb this also explains y we always find those rags-to-riches stories n self-made men so attractive ya? ;p we always feel tt we hav so much to learn from them ya =) rem attending one of Harv Eker's seminars abt 2 yrs back whereby we had to prepare n did a mock tv interview on a self-autobiography book abt how we became successful =) really hope to make tt a reality in the not-too-distant future!!! =) dreamz r important ya...most ppl would die if not for their dreamz!!! go ahead n mock a leechie...frankly, i dont really give a damn...u cant steal my dreamz from me...they belong to me n me alone...dont try to do some inception crap on a leechie ya! ;p let's JIA YOU together n make our dreamz a reality ya!!! =)

Inspiring quote from dear kevin lao shi:
"你是不是怕吃苦的人呢？如果可以選擇甘或苦，選擇苦的道路的人應該少之又少吧？我覺得吃苦是人生一個好的刺激，一個轉戾點。吃苦的當下如果能咬著牙撐過，你會發現它總是能由苦轉甘，而甘的滋味會比原來更甜美；就像苦瓜汁，喝的時候或許苦口，但它豐富的微生素與膳食纖維卻能幫你降火氣美容養顏，而人生又何嘗不是如此呢！"

Was rather amused with all the queries abt my name n profession n workplace...would appreciate tt these questions r not directed to my frenz again ya...pls dont put them in a spot pls...thx =) hav explained to som frenz y i refused to tell most ppl too muchie details abt a leechie these days due to an unpleasant experience...well, there was this particular leechie fan (who happened to b a fren of a fren) who got to know abt where i work...n when i didnt reply his sms...he searched online n found my office no. n called me at my desk...well, i was really shocked when i received tt call from him...tt was totally unnecessary -.-" call me paranoid or whatever, to save myself from further stalker behavior...pls dont ask me or my frenz where i work...thx!

Btw, a fren was telling me tt Xiaxue's American bf read her blog...n then flew all the way here to meet her...tt's really cool! B-) she was telling me tt she believes tt there is "the one" out there for each n every one of us...n encouraged me not to give up n to b patient...she said tt it could b juz tt "the one" for a leechie could be somewhere nearby n yet i'm unaware or he could still b somewhere out there n hasn't appeared yet...n said tt maybe he might read my blog n fly all the way from wherever he is to meet a leechie...well, perhaps tt gives leechie more reason to continue with my blogging n leechie musings o.O n hope tt all my single frenz here dont give up too ya =)

Happy National Day to all Singaporeans! =) btw, nobody wanna accompany leechie to watch the fireworks...so i went down to see the beautiful fireworks live with my dear leechie mum! Check out the pics of the beautiful fireworks! o.O







-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Billionaires' First Jobs
by Audrey Hoiles
Thursday, August 5, 2010

From paper routes to gas stations, where America's richest took their first steps on the road to wealth.

Mark Zuckerberg is a rarity among billionaires -- he hit the jackpot with his first full-time job. Facebook, the social networking site Zuckerberg founded while a sophomore at Harvard in 2004, took off almost immediately, and he hasn't looked back. As of March he was worth an estimated $4 billion.

Many other billionaires started off small and worked their way up. Charles Schwab picked and bagged walnuts at orchards around Sacramento, Calif. Dole's David Murdock, who quit school after the ninth grade, changed oil and greased car parts at a gas station before being drafted into the Army. Banking billionaire Andrew Beal fixed used TV sets and sold them door-to-door to poor families. During high school Steve Jobs scored a summer job at tech pioneer Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ - News), where he met Steve Wozniak. The pair founded Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL - News) together in 1976.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI - News) founder Barry Diller is one of the many entertainment moguls who began their Hollywood careers in the agent-training program of talent agency William Morris, a program nicknamed the mailroom because it started out with a rotation through that department.

Paper routes are among the most common first jobs of Forbes 400 members. Patrick McGovern, T. Boone Pickens, Dennis Washington, and Sheldon Adelson all started off slinging newspapers before making their fortunes.

Though the jobs may seem menial, these billionaires-to-be made the most of their first work experiences. As a 12-year-old, Adelson, the future richest man in Las Vegas, borrowed $200 from an uncle to buy the right to sell newspapers on two busy corners in Boston. Oilman-to-be Pickens also showed zeal as a 12-year-old paperboy, quickly expanding his 28-house paper route to 156 by taking over the routes of his competitors.

Patrick McGovern, founder of the technology media, events, and research company International Data Group, says he learned several important lessons as a paperboy.

"The key lesson that I learned was how to manage one's time effectively. I learned to be proud of what you do and to strive for excellence in service. And I learned to remember that your job is to find customers and keep them happy," says McGovern.

Putting the customer first is a practice that has stuck with McGovern even as his influence has expanded beyond the local paper route.

"What I learned was the orientation of doing all you can to help make your customers successful," McGovern says. "This has proved to be an invaluable business practice which has stayed with me throughout my career."

IDG reaches over 200 million people in 95 countries, and McGovern's emphasis on customer service rewarded him richly; he is worth an estimated $3.1 billion.

Billionaires' First Jobs

Ray Dolby

First Job: Ampex

The engineer and physicist got an early start to his audio career; at 16 he had a part-time gig at audio and movie company Ampex. He continued his work there through college, when he helped develop the electrical aspects of early-stage video tape recording systems. He also held a two-year appointment as a U.N. technical advisor in India before returning to London and founding Dolby Laboratories in 1965. In March Forbes estimated his fortune at $3.5 billion, the bulk of which comes from audio-processing systems that reduce background noise.

Oprah Winfrey

First Job: Grocery store

Oprah got her start working at a corner grocery store next to her father's barber shop in Nashville. By 16 she had landed a job at local radio station WVOL, where she read the news on air. In addition to her television hit The Oprah Winfrey Show and monthly magazine, Oprah has a stake in the Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray shows. These ventures have paid off well; she is worth an estimated $2.4 billion.

David Murdock

First Job: Gas station

After leaving high school in ninth grade, Murdock worked at a gas station before being drafted into the Army in 1943. He went into real estate development, eventually striking it rich after buying and rehabilitating Hawaii's Castle & Cooke, owner of fruit company Dole. His estimated net worth is $2.5 billion.

T. Boone Pickens

First Job: Newspaper route

As a 12-year-old Pickens expanded his 28-house paper route to 156 by taking over the routes of his competitors. Later on as an adult, with $2,500 and two others, Pickens founded oil and gas firm Petroleum Exploration, a predecessor to his Mesa Petroleum. Mesa is now one of America's largest independent natural oil and gas companies, giving Pickens a net worth of $1.1 billion.

Charles Schwab

First Job: Selling walnuts

In his hometown of Sacramento, Schwab bagged and sold walnuts and sold chickens and eggs. After getting an MBA at Stanford, Schwab launched an investment newsletter with two co-workers, and in 1971 he founded Charles Schwab, the discount brokerage that he built into one of industry's largest. He's worth $4.7 billion.

(http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/02/steve-jobs-oprah-schwab-pickens-business-billionaires-first-jobs_slide.html?partner=yahoo)

Billionaire...
"I wanna be a billionaire so f**king bad
Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting quotes:

"U live your own dreamz, doesn’t matter what others think what ur dreamz shld b...as long as, at the end of ur life, u can look back with a big smile with no regrets!"

"No matter what happens, never stop dreaming or following your passions. After all, what is life without a little bit of risk, passion and fun mixed together? Love everything you do and have NO regrets ever!"

"Sometimes in life, what matters is not how fast you finish the race. What matters is you finish the race with the people you love alongside you." ~ Eric

"“Promise” may only be a seven letter word, but it holds a HUGE meaning. Please keep it nicely."

"A real man doesn't love a million girls. He loves one girl in a million ways."

"GIRLS: Don't cry for a guy, let a guy cry for you. Cause girls give and forgive, but guys get and forget."

"If you don't know what you are looking for...don't bother looking" ~ Timothy W Go

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation." ~ Brian Tracy

‎"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Your life is a reflection of your thoughts. If you change your thinking, you change your life."

"You see things, and you ask "why?". But I dreamt of things that never were, and I said "why not?""

“You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.” ~ Anthony Robbins

"Brick walls are there not to stop you. They are there to test how badly you want something. Be happy when you see one because you are very close to achieving what you want." ~ Eric

"The thing that most ppl fear is to forget the only memories u have left for the one tt had stay in ur heart!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
V.sensible advice from J:
"I think many investors are skeptical this bull market will last hence the profit taking at the tip of the hat. Will the market keep going down for a double dip? Unlikely. If i were you, stay invested in singapore equities, but take profit periodically. don't let greed stop you from taking profits and don't let fear make you quit with losses."

This is more easily understood than applied in practice...but i still gotta JIA YOU! Put his quote here to remind myself to stop doing silly things...leechie muz JIA YOU!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update:

Brought my leechie mum down to Unifem movie event "Your Name Is Justine"...thx Unifem for their kind invitation =) this 2005 Luxembourgish movie is really disturbing...the asshole bf of this young polish gal lied to her, saying tt he's bringing her ovr to germany to meet his parents...but he sold her off to b a prostitute instead!

"little does she know of the shock and horror that awaits her in a sparsely decorated room somewhere in Berlin. That scene of initial realization dawning upon her, is worth the ticket for the horror and sympathy you will feel for the character, one who has been betrayed by a supposedly loved one.

I thought the movie opened quite aptly, with Mariola and friends seeking job opportunity in an abbatoir, where we see how meat is processed for the end market. It becomes like a metaphor for the journey that Mariola will unwittingly undertake in the flesh trade, very much against her wishes. de Pena doesn't shirk away from showing the disgusting violence committed against women, and skilfully handles the depiction of it without falling prey to gratuitousness or exploiting too much with a more direct approach to showing it all on screen. While the characters don't withdraw from the action of inflicting pain, de Pena instinctively moves the voyeuristic eye away, and at the same time never diminishes the hurt you feel for the character, nor the anger contained within."

(http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/yournameisjustine/yournameisjustine.htm)

Leechie has been invited to some social function with an "hauteness" dresscode...was fretting over what i shld wear manz @.@" well, this is really strange...they sent me the invite n now they replied my rsvp by saying tt the guestlist is closed...tt feels like a slap on my leechie face...ouchie -.-" tt certainly left a sour taste in the mouth...y bother to invite ppl when your guestlist is already closed? -.-" Guess what? they actually replied tt the guestlist is closed yest n yet they r still asking other ppl to rsvp now? -.-" leechie is less than impressed...but u all can form your own opinions abt how this company do stuff -.-" btw, name of this com is Heat! -.-"

Hello Kitty lipgloss n mascara from Etude House tt Kacey got me from his korea trip last yr...so cutie...wanna attract some envy looks here...keke...cos these r limited edition n not avail in Singapore...lol ;p so cutie n i still cant bear to use them ;p


Not sure if it's due to my looks or what, but leechie feels more at home at liang court...heard the jap version of this nice song at kino liang court on fri o.O

"Sandy Lam - At Least I Still Have You
I'm afraid that there's not enough time. I wanna hold you
Until I feel that your wrinkles show signs of aging
Until I'm sure that you're real, until I've lost all my energy
I'm willing to, because of you
Even if I can't move, I still wanna hold you
Until I can feel your hair turning white like snow
Until our visions become blurry ; until we can't breathe
Let us stay together"

Really like this song...u dont have to b bothered abt who i am...i'm only a leechie =.=


Rem this clip tt i shared near Xmas last yr? this fairytale love story has finally made it to our shores here ;p i havent seen this movie yet...but it seems so much like a modern fairytale manz! o.O