When I sold my first business, I wanted to do something nice for my dad. I wanted to give my parents a bunch of money, but they wouldn't take anything from me. They were so happy for me; they felt they didn't need money.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My parents were working class folks. My dad was a bartender for most of his life, my mom was a maid and a cashier and a stock clerk at WalMart. We were not people of financial means in terms of significant financial means. I always told them, 'I didn't always have what I wanted. I always had what I needed.' My parents always provided that.
My dad wanted me to be a businessman, but I felt that wasn't for me.
My parents had no money, but they had strong values that I've carried throughout my life - things like not going into debt, never borrowing money, never leveraging, paying your bills on time, keeping your agreements, selling customers the right things, treating employees right, and growing things.
My parents weren't extremely successful financially, but they were happy people. They gave me confidence.
As a child, I remember I always wanted to make my parents happy and give them everything in their lives.
My dad said to always do what I loved and not worry about the money or anything, because if I do what I love, then the money will come.
When I was 18, and when I entered my family business, I soon realised that it wasn't as easy as I thought. I had to deal with people of my father's generation. Building trust was key to doing business.
When I was a kid, my parents were always like, 'Money doesn't buy happiness.' I thought, 'You just didn't make enough money.' I had to go find it out for myself.
My dad loves what I do and I support my parents financially because they didn't have a job that gave them a pension.
My father was adamant in his disapproval of my interest in show business.