Ordinary millionaire (Sandwich business)

Ordinary millionaire is a name of TV show introducing ordinary people who became millionaire out of nowhere. All of them started poor but eventually made great fortune through tremendous efforts. I watched a show about the rich from sandwich business, CEO of Melanger Sandwich

The man in the show was a successful sales person. After his success as an employee, he was fed up with stressful working environment. He quit his job to start his own business without specific plan thinking that he had a hand of Midas. But all business he started failed (selling fruits, gimbap, breads, and so forth), which led to divorce after few years. He didn't have a place to live with his sons, and his sons had to sleep in the factory for months. He became a delinquent borrower and chased by debt collectors. After the serious of failure, he seriously thought about finishing his life by jumping out of the bridge. However, he just can't finish as a loser. It was unfair to end everything like this. He met one great mentor, expert in sandwich. He learn from him, and slowly his business took off and grew. 

The reasons for the continuous failures

1) He finished his career abruptly without preparation. He was arrogant becaue of his continuos success as a sales person. The survival game in the company is like surviving from a war; however, the same game in the real world is surviving from a hell.

2) He didn't do his best when he started his business peeking into all businesses looks promising. He took it too lightly.

3) His first business failed because his customer cheated him, not paying him after receiving goods. He wasn't prepared for a real fight.

The reasons for the success after the series of failures

1) He finally had a mentor. Every man made a great success had a coach. (Think abour all professional sports players. All they have good coaches even after the players were already experts and making good performance) Getting to know the right person who can guide his way was a critical moment changing his business direction.

2) Even after he met the mentor, his skills weren't much improved. His mentor once tried to quit helping him because he didn't have any talent for making sandwiches. However, he never quit this time since no options left for him. He thought about only one thing the whole 24 hours: the sandwich. He only ate sandwich (and he is still doing this. He ate around 12 sandwiches a day for his meal and whenever he saw new sandwich in another shops) Sunk cost may be a burden but also an essential price to pay for making the top notch business.

3) Continuos re-investment to the business leads his business more successful and gets ahead of his competitors. He made a great success, but he is still humble knowing that his business can be ruined at any moment if he lets his guard down. He is now a hard working business man checking all the details essential for his sucess (ex. bread quality, packaging details, freshness of the ingredients)

4) He maintains frugal life style without extravagance even after his success. His won house is small fitting for three person (him and his two sons). He bought one fancy car since it was one of his five years goal, but he never brag about it. His car is only for visiting important person to him (he is still visiting his coach to express his gratitude). Normally, he is driving his small truck.

Any ordinary person can be a millionaire if one is willing to pay the sunk cost and rushing toward one goal: making his business strong under any harsh condition. The way to success was painful, but not infeasible. It is highly important to be well prepared before starting the business.