John D. Rockefeller: A Millionaire's Success

John Davison Rockefeller: From Rags to Riches “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great”, John D. Rockefeller. John D. Rockefeller accomplished more than anyone of his era could. Rockefeller began his life at the bottom, but rose to the top of the social and economic later later in his life. He pioneered the idea of the now illegal monopoly, and the American business model. Although Rockefeller is particularly remembered for his ruthless tactics in his oil monopoly, he contributed an immense fortune to various charity foundations.

Now, Dexter wasn 't poor, but he wasn 't by any means rich either. Dexter saw many others who made good money. “SOME OF THE CADDIES were poor as sin and lived in oneroom houses with a neurasthenic cow in the front yard, but Dexter Green 's father owned the second best grocery-store in Black Bear--the best one was "The Hub," patronized by the wealthy people from Sherry Island--and Dexter caddied only for pocket-money.” (p. 1). We see in this quote that Dexter’s family has money, but it’s not what he wants. He wants more.

John D. Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company and became one of the wealthiest men of his time. His company was the major leader of the oil business in the United States during his reign. Standard Oil company served as a prime example of how companies should function, which helped to guide others to follow in his footsteps. He was a major philanthropist and used his large fortune to fund many philanthropic causes. His donations helped pay for the creations of the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller University, the establishment of Central Philippine University, and many others.

Carnegie immigrated at age thirteen from Scotland and worked his way up by developing the telegram system during the civil, there collecting his first million then dominated the steel industry; thereafter prospering his enterprise, which leads him to be the second richest man after Rockefeller. “The American Dream”, envisioned by our Founding Fathers, is a revolutionary idea that any citizen has an equal opportunity to prosper by challenging themselves and through an initiative, and determination. This gives” Wealth” much more of an impact thus, many Americans consider ‘The American Dream” as a standard and praise this idealism. Even if his views seem a bit outdated; it stills heavily impacted lots of Americans from the Gilded Age to modern day. However, for all that prosperity, the gap between rich and poor has always been a huge complication, for over a century, people have tried to fix this inequality.

They made wonderful trading industries in the country to make money on. I have an immeasurable amount of gratitude to those men, even though they caused much pain to the families working for monopolies. As the monopolies fought against labor laws, families struggle to survive. The workers only earned a pay around $1.50 a week, while the monopolies had millions of dollars and started becoming the richest men in America. I am grateful that the workers took a stand in what they believed in, and changed the way we will live forever.

Growing up, my parents couldn 't always afford what I wanted, but I always had food and shelter. My dad’s family brought him to California chasing the American dream. He had to dropout of high school in order to help provide for his family due to economic problems. He was only sixteen having to work in the fields. My dad is currently working as a forklift driver for Driscoll’s where he has been working for over twenty-five years.

This summer was like any other summer, he would go over to Chase’s house at 10:37 A.M. everyday to help him with his one chore, dusting Chase’s dad’s statue of himself. Well you see Chase’s dad was named Greg, and was and artist, he made many different things, from a pancake portrait, to a face vase. But his most prized possession was his life sized statue of himself. Greg position was exactly like that of the statue of David, but to most both Chase and George’s relief, the statue was wearing pants. After they were finished dusting the statue, they would go to lunch.

Jordan Belfort began his career with a starter job at a Wall Street brokerage firm. He starts his own firm call Stratton Oakmont with his friend/partner Danny Azoff. Jordan and Danny’s business goes through the roof and make their employees millionaires. So what was their motive? Was it for the drugs?

When he built the school the boys worked hard and if they graduated they got $100 in new clothes and help finding a job. The school was founded with Hershey's money from his successful chocolate business. Unfortunately, he died in 1945 but he left his money to keep the school up and running! Today, that money would be worth $5 billion! Each year more than 1,300 kids go to the Milton Hershey school for education, career training, housing, clothing, meals, and health care.

His family was in the middle class ranking because his father owned the second best grocery in the town. He had his side job for extra money, but he did not actually need the job. “Some of the caddies were poor as sin, and lived in one-room houses with a neurasthenic cow in the front yard, but Dexter Green’s father owned the second best grocery-store in Black Bear- the best one was ‘The Hub’, patronized by the wealthy people from Sherry Island- and Dexter caddied only for pocket-money.” (Winter Dreams). Dexter grew up in a middle class family. They had money.

Samuel Truett Cathy, better known as Truett Cathy was the founder of Chick-fil-A. He was a small-town boy who was born in Eatonton, Georgia on March 14, 1921. From a young age, Cathy always had passion for business. When he was younger he used to help his family make extra money by selling Coca-Cola, operating a paper route, and performing odd jobs. He made so much money with his paper route that he eventually became the “breadwinner” of the house.

Samuel Truett Cathy was born on March 14, 1921 in Eatonton, GA to Lilla James and Joseph Benjamin Cathy. He was the 6th of 7 children with 4 older sisters, an older brother and a younger brother. Cathy attended Boys High School (known today as Henry W. Grady High school) in Atlanta, GA. Cathy married Jeanette Cathy and together they had 3 children; Trudy, Bubba, and Dan. During the time of World War II, Cathy had gone and served in the war. Upon return and a few years after the war and the Great Depression had ended, using his business philosophies and biblical background, Cathy opened up a restaurant called the “ Dwarf Grill” in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville in 1946.

Chef Johnny Hernandez was introduced to the food industry since he was little. He grew up surrounded of the food and restaurant environment. His father owned a restaurant in San Antonio. He and his father oversaw the food preparation, and back of the house operations, while his sister took care of the front of the house operations. As he started to work with his father he grew a passion for the food industry.

At the age of 14, he and his family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Rockefeller was determined and was hardworking as he started working on several of small business ventures while he was still a teenager. At 16 years, he landed his first real job as an assistant bookkeeper with Hewitt & Tuttle. By the age of 20, Rockefeller,

Vincent Dreffs is a local entrepreneur whom I met through friend of mine and will be consulting on my restaurant project. He recently left his corporate job of 20+ years to start his own business. Vince is a well-respected figure in the restaurant community, and was an integral piece of the pie when it comes to the Predators being in Nashville. Vince has been in every level of management as well as being an entrepreneur. It was a no-brainer when it came to my choice for the interview.