Hey, Millionaire!
We love money so much that we often imagine billionaires were rich from day 1.
But no matter how much of a knack they have for business, it still takes time to hit on
that one great idea.
It might surprise you, but most billionaires were just as broke as the rest of us when
they were starting out.
In fact, some of them had way worse jobs than we did when we were young.
The billionaires in this list started with some of the lowest-paying jobs ever!
You'll be shocked at their salary!
It makes you wonder how they ever got anywhere in business when they were doing jobs like
this.
Let's find out who's on the list - and who took our number 1 spot!
8.
David Geffen - earned $1.6 per hour David Geffen made his $10.5 billion fortune
as the founder of Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and, of course, DreamWorks studio.
But he didn't build that media empire by accident.
It all started at his first job.
That was back in 1964, and he only earned $1.6 per hour.
If you're thinking that was a lot back in those days, it wasn't - that's about $14.39
per hour in today's money.
Not the worst, but not great either.
But even though it didn't pay well, Geffen spotted an opportunity.
See, he was working as a mailroom clerk at the famous William Morris talent agency.
He quickly figured out how to use this as an advantage - so he learned how to steam
open envelopes so he could read what was inside without anyone knowing.
Then, he went a step further and taught himself to read memos upside down while the person
they were addressed to was looking at them.
He used these tricks to learn everything he needed to know about how to add value to the
company to get himself promoted.
But it also taught him a lot about the entertainment industry, which gave him the boost he needed
when he opened his own companies!
It's a unique way of getting ahead, but it sure worked!
7.
Georgio Armani - earned $1.38 per hour Georgio Armani might never have developed
any interest in the fashion industry if he hadn't served in the Italian Military.
I know how weird that sounds, but it's true.
In 1957, he was lucky enough to get 20 days of vacation from Military duty while he was
in Milan.
You probably already know that Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and
it was the same back then.
While he was there, a friend told him he could earn some extra cash working with a photographer
who was working at a department store.
It wasn't a well-paying job - he earned just $1.38 per hour, which would be about $13.7
today.
But it was on that job that Armani fell in love with fashion.
He finished his required military duty and immediately got himself a job at the famous
La Rinascente department store, where he kicked off his design career.
Today, his fashion house is worth a giant $6.6 billion!
What was your first job?
Tell us in the comments!
And keep watching for more origin stories.
6.
Evan Spiegel - earned $385 per month Evan Spiegel is the founder of Snapchat - an
invention that made him super rich.
Thanks to that app, he's worth $5.8 billion, but he wasn't always rich.
While he was still in high school in 2008, he interned with Red Bull, where he worked
as a promoter in bars and clubs.
That's the kind of job that could pay a lot, but it didn't.
He was earning just $385 per month - the equivalent of $498 today.
Lucky he was still in school because that's sure not paying the rent.
5.
Jeff Bezos - earned $2.69 per hour Jeff Bezos needs no introduction.
The Amazon founder is best known for his ginormous bank balance these days - in case you don't
know, he's worth about $168 billion.
But he didn't always have more money than anyone knew existed - he actually started
work as a McDonald's fry cook, earning just $2.69 per hour, or $6.97 per hour if you adjust
for inflation.
I know what you're thinking - it's hard to picture Bezos ever dealing with such small
change.
And it wasn't the easiest job either.
He tells one story where a 5-gallon ketchup dispenser emptied itself all over the kitchen.
Because he was the new guy, he was obviously the one that had to clean it up.
I don't think he gets to complain about that anymore now that he has more money than anyone
else.
Can you click subscribe faster than Jeff Bezos makes another $15,000?
That means you have 6 seconds.
Go!
6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
That's one new subscription for you and $15,000 for Bezos.
Keep watching for more badly paid first jobs of filthy rich people.
4.
Alexander Spanos If any sports fans are watching, they'll know
who Alexander Spanos is.
He's best known as the owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, a team that's currently worth $2.4
billion!
He bought the team with money he made from real estate, but that's not where he started
out.
Way back in 1951, he decided he would make some money selling sandwiches to workers in
the San Joaquin Valley.
But that wasn't as easy as it sounds.
He had almost no money and had to borrow $800 from a friend to buy a food truck.
He and his wife would spend their nights making all the sandwiches so Spanos could drive around
in the truck selling them the next day.
I don't know if that business venture was a huge success.
But it is true that he was a millionaire just five years after borrowing money to buy the
truck.
Sadly, he passed away in 2018, but there's no doubt he left a legacy.
3.
Mark Cuban Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks
and also the owner of a huge amount of cash - his net worth is estimated at about $4.5
billion.
It's always interesting to hear how someone with that much cash started out.
He started building his fortune at the age of 12!
He wanted a pair of basketball shoes, but because he was only 12, he didn't have any
money.
But he was clever, and he realized that people would find it hard to say no to a little boy.
So he went door to door selling garbage bags.
He saved up the money he needed and learned a few lessons in hustling along the way, which
he says definitely helped him become successful later.
What was your first valuable business lesson that might turn you into a millionaire one
day?
Tell us in the comments!
And keep watching to find out who took our number 1 spot!
2.
Bruce Nordstrom - earned $0.25 per hour.
You've probably guessed that Bruce Nordstrom has something to do with the retail giant
that uses his name.
And you'd be right - Nordstrom was actually founded by Bruce's dad!
Bruce was just 9 years old when he first started working for his dad's company.
This was during World War Two, and Bruce was working in the shoe stockroom for just 25
cents an hour.
That's about $4.28 in today's money, and his dad was paying him out of his own pocket.
But his dad clearly made the right decision when he hired Bruce.
By 1963, Bruce was a big part of the company, and he was expanding the brand in a big way.
Thanks to Bruce, the company grew from just 7 shoe stores around the Pacific Northwest
to what it is today - a worldwide retailer with 156 stores in 27 states and even more
boutiques spread across Europe.
Bruce retired in 2006 with a net worth of $1.1 billion!
And finally, the billionaire in our number 1 spot is...
1.
Richard Branson Some of you might know how Virgin started,
but we'll tell you again anyway.
When Richard Branson was just 16 years old, he dropped out of high school and set to work
on his own projects.
Obviously, he's not the kind of person who thinks small, so his very first job as a high-school
dropout was publishing his own magazine.
It was called Student and was aimed at - you guessed it - students.
Amazingly, for the first edition, he sold $8000 worth of advertising to get the magazine
up and running!
That money covered the first run of 50,000 copies, and it took off!
And that's where Virgin comes in.
The company was founded as a mail-order business, and it only later became a record label before
evolving into the multi-billion dollar empire it is today.
Branson is currently worth about $5.4 billion, so the student magazine probably wasn't such
a bad idea.