What was your first job?
I started my own lawn mowing company when I was 10. It was just me until I realized I couldn’t do it all and hired some other kids to work for me. I’d take a percentage of their sales. I owned and repaired the mowers, controlled the customers and our workload. I did this until I was 18 years old (and had five employees!)

How much were you paid?
I charged per yard, which varied depending on size.

How was your job different than you thought it would be?
I never thought about what I’d do if the mowers broke. I had to go to local garage that did car work to get them fixed and it was inefficient and expensive. I realized I had to learn to fix them myself if I was going to make any money. A man at the local garage showed me how to repair them, and I did that in the shed behind our house when we needed repairs from then on.

What important lessons or skills that you learned in your first job have been instrumental in your success?
More wealth is created by having knowledge and customer relations than the operational leverage. Instead of working more hours at same rate, you earn more by building leverage in a business. It’s hard to make enough money to save when you’re working in a labor-intensive job by yourself—it’s just not cost-effective.

Have you seen how lacking those first job skills had negative effects on others?
Growing up where I did, everyone was poor and wanted to make money. We were all eager to work hard and learn whatever we could. I learned quickly that the harder you work, the more you earn. Unfortunately, some people don’t think that way.

What people or outside factors affected your work ethic or motivated you the most to succeed?
My personal motivation has driven me to succeed more than any outside factors. My parents constantly talked about our lack of money. There was never enough to meet the demand, so there were always sacrifices to be made. But I never thought of myself as having a limited future. I knew that if I worked hard enough, I’d be better off than my parents were.

My parents’ values had a positive influence on me too. They thought hard work was equivalent to moral behavior. You had to have integrity and live an ethical life. I believed that then, and I believe it now. Even though my family’s financial circumstances were always precarious, I felt secure in my home, in my neighborhood, and in my school.

What advice would you give to someone starting his or her first job?
Start by having a work ethic. Build a capacity and a desire to work. It doesn’t matter how shrewd or clever you are, there’s no way around rolling up your sleeves and working. My life demonstrates that there is no one path to success. This country offers plenty of opportunity to experiment and try different roads. I never would have guessed where my meandering road would take me. What is most important is to have hope and aspiration. You can’t allow your circumstances to crush your hopes and dreams.

What do you find most rewarding about your position today?
Being a CEO is the perfect job for me because there is so little constancy in a CEO’s life. I deal with a variety of issues on a daily basis. It’s a great job for someone who is capable of focus, but who gets bored easily.