Capitolo 1
Unveiling the Mindset of the Ultra-Wealthy Elite
Have you ever wondered what separates billionaires from the rest of us? It's not luck, inheritance, or even intelligence. The Billion Dollar Secret by Rafael Badziag reveals the hidden principles behind extraordinary wealth creation through unprecedented access to over 20 self-made billionaires across cultures and industries. This groundbreaking work, endorsed by business titans worldwide, exposes the surprising truth: most billionaires aren't privileged heirs but self-made individuals who mastered specific mindsets and habits. Jack Canfield, who wrote the foreword, initially doubted anyone could convince such busy empire-builders to participate, but watched in amazement as Badziag secured interviews with five World Entrepreneur of the Year winners and numerous other business legends. What makes this book exceptional is how these typically private individuals opened up about their journeys, revealing that billionaires aren't fundamentally different from ordinary people-they've simply mastered self-belief and removed psychological limitations that hold most people back.
Capitolo 2
The Myth-Busting Truth About Self-Made Success
The media portrays billionaires inaccurately, focusing on flashy images that create envy rather than showing the reality of these individuals who represent just 0.00002% of society. Contrary to popular belief, extraordinary success doesn't depend on being born in wealthy countries, having supportive families, or attending elite universities.
Consider N.R. Narayana Murthy, who founded Infosys in 1981 in impoverished, socialist India. His family couldn't afford furniture; everyone sat and slept on the floor. Starting his company required overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles: it took three years and 50 train trips to Delhi (200 days of travel time) to get a license to import a computer. Without a computer, his partners programmed on a customer's machine in America while he handled bureaucracy in India. Communication was another challenge-it took 5-7 years for the average Indian company to get a phone line, so Murthy used public phones to call America, and his partners couldn't contact him. Despite these challenges, Infosys became the world's largest software company with 200,000 programmers-more than Microsoft, Apple, and Google combined.
Or take Mohed Altrad, born a Bedouin nomad in the Syrian Desert, disowned by his father who expelled him and his mother from their home and killed his brother. His life was considered so unimportant that nobody recorded his birth date. When his mother died when he was four, his grandmother raised him to become a shepherd and opposed his education. Daily, he walked barefoot through miles of desert to attend school. Years later, he took over a bankrupt scaffolding company in France and transformed it into an industry leader.
Even Cao Dewang, who grew up in poverty in war-torn China during the Cultural Revolution, attended school only from age nine, completed just five grades, and was essentially illiterate in Chinese script. After hitting rock bottom as a village doormat at 14, Dewang refused to give up. He self-educated by meticulously saving money for a year to buy a dictionary, then three more years for an encyclopedia. Through relentless self-improvement, he eventually built Fuyao Glass-the world's largest auto glass manufacturer.
The truth is that external factors don't determine success-it's the right combination of internal factors that make the Billion Dollar Secret.
Capitolo 3
Independence: The Foundation of Extraordinary Success
To achieve extraordinary success in business, you need the mental setup of the world's best entrepreneurs. The difference between average entrepreneurs and billionaires isn't about outside factors but inner workings. As Mohed Altrad explains, it's like comparing a Ford to a Porsche-your business reflects who you are, including your limitations.
All interviewed billionaires had to stand independently early in life. Some left home young-Tim Draper at 14, Husnu Ozyegin at 10-while others were born poor, forcing early maturity. Ron Sim, who built the OSIM empire, lived with 12 others in a one-room flat and started working at nine, selling noodles for commission. Every billionaire interviewed began working before 18-Chip Wilson tore down barns at 14, Jack Cowin delivered papers at 12, Tim Draper earned "a penny a minute" doing household chores, Tony Tan Caktiong sold newspapers at eight, while Frank Hasenfratz and Lirio Parisotto took on responsibilities at just six years old.
Many billionaires supported their families as children. Lirio Parisotto, as the eldest of eleven children in rural Brazil, earned money extracting corn straw for tobacco wrapping while taking full responsibility for his siblings. Narayana Murthy gave his scholarship money to his mother, and Sergey Galitskiy began hard physical labor at 14, giving earnings to his parents. This early responsibility developed crucial leadership skills that later fueled their business success.
You cannot become a billionaire as an employee. Jack Cowin received life-changing advice from entrepreneur Bill Pollock: "Get into your own business if you want to be successful." Many billionaires wish they'd started sooner-Peter Hargreaves and Naveen Jain both regret not beginning entrepreneurship in their twenties. Some billionaires like Husnu Ozyegin launched businesses after being denied ownership stakes as employees-he sold his homes, borrowed money, and started a bank that eventually sold for $5.5 billion.
Billionaires take responsibility for their environments rather than complaining. Jack Cowin warns that high-paying jobs create "prisoners" of lifestyle-mortgages, private schools, and country clubs that prevent entrepreneurship. To achieve extraordinary success, you must leave your comfort zone: "Drifters never leave the nest. Millionaires leave the nest and try to fly. Billionaires jump off the nest and fly high."
Capitolo 4
The Insatiable Hunger for Growth
The scale of your thinking determines your achievements-to become big, you must think big and possess an insatiable desire for growth. Billionaires like Lirio Parisotto set ambitious goals, such as putting his company among Brazil's top 500. Micha Soowow, Poland's wealthiest person, chose to build $10 million buildings rather than produce $1 items because "by making things big and expensive, I will obtain much greater margins."
Naveen Jain, a space entrepreneur, believes we create our own limits: "If you believe something is impossible, it becomes impossible for you." His company Moon Express aims to mine the moon, showing that "everything is possible." Billionaires differ from millionaires in their refusal to accept limits-as Jack Cowin puts it, they don't ask "Why?" but "Why not?"
The greatest obstacles exist within ourselves. When an immigration officer once questioned Jain's lunar mining plans, calling him crazy, Jain realized "people have lost the power to dream big." He wants to be remembered as "the man who knew no limits." Micha Soowow refused to live paycheck to paycheck like most people, and Manny Stul followed his father's advice to "take a really big bite" in business, eventually becoming World Entrepreneur of the Year 2016.
Hunger, despair, and desire fuel motivation and create the energy needed for achievement. Ron Sim puts it bluntly: "You do, you die. You don't do, you also die... You should challenge yourself and maximize yourself." Jack Cowin distinguishes billionaires from millionaires: "A millionaire thinks 'I had a good idea, I'm successful, I'm happy with the status quo.' The billionaire thinks 'How high is high? Where's the limit?'"
The greatest danger is complacency-the "golden cage" that traps potential billionaires at the millionaire level. Frank Hasenfratz turned down a comfortable railroad job in Canada that paid too well because his uncle warned he'd "never quit." Lirio Parisotto similarly left a secure, prestigious bank position because "if I stay here I'll die here." He shares this insight: "If you want to achieve something in business, the worst thing is a good salary" because safety becomes a trap.
Success requires constant climbing to higher heights. Frank Hasenfratz warns that before reaching the top of one hill, you must find a higher one, or you'll inevitably go downhill. Naveen Jain, despite building several multibillion-dollar companies, still sees himself "very early into this book" with plans to revolutionize space, healthcare, education and food industries. As Peter Hargreaves summarizes: "To go way beyond where you need to, you've got to want to make it bigger and better all the time... You've got to want to rule the world."
Capitolo 5
Optimism: The Billionaire's Secret Weapon
Your B.O.A.T.-Belief, Optimism, Assertiveness, and Trust in yourself-will safely navigate you through your career's challenges. Combined with enthusiasm, these qualities form a crucial element of the Billion Dollar Secret. Billionaires maintain unwavering optimism and positive thinking, seeing these traits as key strengths that help them overcome obstacles and recognize opportunities others miss.
Tim Draper, legendary Silicon Valley VC investor, presents a clear choice: "You can be an optimist or you can be a pessimist. Optimists are the ones who accomplish everything. Pessimists don't accomplish anything." Billionaires consistently avoid negativity-Tony Tan Caktiong, World Entrepreneur of the Year 2004, can barely remember sad events due to his positive mindset. All interviewed self-made billionaires describe themselves as enthusiastic optimists who believe hard times are temporary.
Mohed Altrad's success stemmed from unbounded faith in his future. Despite never having heard the word "scaffolding" before, he invested everything in a bankrupted scaffolding company, seeing global potential where others saw failure. Over 30 years, he built it into the world's leading scaffolding company with over 200 acquisitions, earning him World Entrepreneur of the Year 2015. His most valuable advice: "Believe. You should have some faith in what you are doing."
This youthful enthusiasm and sometimes ignorance helps achieve great things because you don't know something "can't work." As Jack Cowin reflects: "If I knew then all the things I know now, we wouldn't have done half the things." This unbounded optimism appears throughout billionaire biographies, from Frank Stronach arriving in America with just $200 to Ron Sim declaring "the greatest things are yet to come."
Self-belief is fundamental to business success. Ron Sim advises: "You can have nothing, but when you believe in yourself, you can build something." Cho Tak Wong, founder of Fuyao Glass and World Entrepreneur of the Year 2009, bases success on three steps: belief, vision, and execution-though not blind belief, but belief built on feasibility studies.
Never let skeptics steal your dreams or discourage you from bold steps. When Lirio Parisotto discovered a business opportunity in video recording in Japan-creating custom-length videocassettes with full-service packaging-his competitor dismissed it: "Record tapes? I record tapes at home." Lirio sold his retail business for $2 million, invested in manufacturing, and eventually captured 90% of the Brazilian market with Videolar, making him a billionaire.
However, overconfidence is the dangerous flip side of belief. Husnu Ozyegin warns that success leading to overconfidence is when you start making mistakes-asking fewer questions and assessing risks less diligently. The lesson: maintain confidence without letting it become hubris.
Capitolo 6
Beyond Money: What Really Drives Billionaires
Money in business is merely a universal benchmark for measuring performance-like a score in sports. While money helps you compete at higher levels against better players, business isn't fundamentally about money. Micha Soowow, Poland's wealthiest person, compares business success to winning an Olympic gold medal-it's not the gold itself you crave, but what it represents.
Mohed Altrad warns that businesses focused solely on money often fail. He shares stories of entrepreneurs who kept rejecting buyout offers, chasing ever-larger sums until they ultimately went bankrupt. Naveen Jain discovered that no amount of money ever feels like "enough"-his goal of $100,000 quickly shifted to needing a house, then a bigger house, then $1 million.
Billionaires are driven by creating and building businesses rather than accumulating wealth. Their motivations evolve over time and include:
1. Getting Out of Poverty: Many self-made billionaires were initially motivated simply to escape poverty. Naveen Jain recalls his illiterate mother pushing him toward education as the path out of poverty.
2. Freedom: Freedom motivates many billionaires. Frank Stronach, who experienced hunger in postwar Austria, wanted economic freedom to avoid hunger and dependence.
3. Survival: The initial drive for entrepreneurs is often basic survival. Fear of failure is a powerful motivator when starting a business.
4. Solving Problems: Billionaires focus on solving problems rather than making money. Dilip Shanghvi advises finding an unsolved problem to create business opportunities.
5. Doing Things Well and Improving: The satisfaction of doing things well drives billionaires like Micha Soowow. Petter Stordalen aims to do things better today than yesterday but not as well as tomorrow.
6. Doing Something New: Many billionaires are motivated by innovation and exploration. Tim Draper believes "the world is discoverable. We should all discover it."
7. Playing the Game of Business: Billionaires are passionate about business itself. Peter Hargreaves has no great passion outside his business-it's his "life's work."
8. Competition and Winning: Winning drives billionaires like Peter Hargreaves who wanted to be "the biggest" while his partner wanted to be "the best."
9. Building and Creating: Billionaires take pleasure in making their visions reality. Tony Tan Caktiong simply wants "to build bigger things, bigger dreams."
10. Social Impact: Making a difference drives many billionaires. Chip Wilson says, "What gets me up in the morning is changing people's lives."
Finding your purpose is essential. As Ron Sim advises, "Live life for a very good purpose." Chip Wilson recommends the Hedgehog Principle: find the intersection of what you're passionate about, what you can be best at, and what can be profitable.
Capitolo 7
The Essential Skills of Business Mastery
Billionaires aren't perfect-they have weaknesses and vices like everyone else. But they possess the right skills, habits, and mindset for extraordinary business success. As Cai Dongqing notes, advancing beyond millionaire status "has a lot to do with mindset, knowledge, personality, and skills." Six universal skills are needed for business mastery regardless of industry.
1. Logical Thinking: Common sense and logical thinking are fundamental skills nearly all billionaires cite as crucial strengths. Sergey Galitskiy lists logical thinking as the first of four qualities for business success. Mathematical ability matters too-Micha Soowow states "this world is based on numbers" and business success depends on them.
2. Understanding People: Business happens with people, making interpersonal understanding essential. Jack Cowin attributes his success to understanding what people want and aligning their goals with his own. Lirio Parisotto states plainly: "Business is all about people"-understanding how to motivate them, reward them, and make them feel good. Beyond understanding, empathy is crucial-seeing from others' perspectives.
3. Relationships: Building relationships forms the foundation of sustainable business. Naveen Jain explains simply: "Everything is done by people"-you're never doing business with a company but with the person representing it. Quality trumps quantity-Dilip Shanghvi maintains deep relationships with fewer people: "Life is too short to fight with people." True relationships require vulnerability, creating emotional bonds that build trust.
4. Communication: Communication skills, built on people skills, enhance business effectiveness. Storytelling powers public relations, marketing and sales. Petter Stordalen, the project's best communicator, demonstrates this through his hotel "the Thief"-named for its location on an island historically known for criminals. Despite warnings that guests would feel "robbed" at his premium-priced hotel, Stordalen turned this narrative into marketing gold.
5. Selling: Without sales, there is no business. Every interviewed billionaire excels at selling. Jack Cowin began selling personalized Christmas cards as a child, then funded university by selling nursery stock door-to-door, earning as much during summer as his professors made yearly. Chip Wilson learned from his entrepreneurial grandmother to always offer two appointment times so prospects couldn't simply decline.
6. Leadership: Leadership is the business master class that enables creating billions in value through others. It encompasses attracting, inspiring, motivating, managing, and leading people to build winning teams. As Jack Cowin explains, "Business is a team effort"-like team sports where you need complementary skills.
Without mastering all Six Skills of Business Mastery at the highest level, becoming outrageously successful in business remains elusive.
Capitolo 8
Daily Habits That Create Extraordinary Wealth
Your habits determine your future, with the foundation being more important than results. As Russian entrepreneur Sergey Galitskiy states, "The most important thing is the foundation. What you should be most interested in is not the result, but the foundation that you build. Result is always what follows."
1. Get Up Early: Rising early is the number one habit of successful entrepreneurs. Self-made billionaires interviewed wake up at 5:30 a.m. on average. Early morning offers primal energy, quiet time for thinking, and undisturbed work with a fresh mind. The key isn't short sleep but early rising-those needing more sleep simply go to bed earlier.
2. Keep Healthy: Health is paramount for business success. As Jack Cowin emphasizes, "If you lose your health, nothing else matters. I don't care how wealthy or how important you are or how much power you've got; if you lose your health, nothing else counts." Every billionaire interviewed maintains a strict exercise regimen regardless of age. A striking number of billionaires were high-performing athletes in their youth. Sports provide more than physical fitness-they clear your mind, teach winning, losing, discipline, persistence, and mental strength.
3. Read: Reading is a fundamental habit shared by nearly all billionaires. Cho Tak Wong, who was illiterate at 14 and never finished school, urges young people to "read books, read a lot of those about how to do things right." Billionaires' reading extends beyond business newspapers and magazines-many devour biographies of top performers in and outside business, particularly great historical leaders.
4. Contemplate: Billionaires deliberately set aside time for solitary thinking. Some contemplate through meditation, while others incorporate thinking time into activities like sports or their morning routines.
5. Routines and Rituals: Consistent routines and rituals produce profound long-term results through compound effect. Morning routines are crucial for long-term business success. Kim Beom-Su rises between 5-6 AM, walks 30-40 minutes, showers for 30-40 minutes while thinking deeply, reads for 30-40 minutes, and listens to music before breakfast. Typical billionaire morning routines include early rising, exercise, reading, and contemplation time.
6. Discipline: Billionaires maintain exceptional discipline, holding themselves and others to high standards. Like athletes who train consistently, they show up daily for decades. They aren't superhuman-they experience laziness but overcome it. Micha Soowow admits: "I wake up every morning and do things I don't like. I force myself to do them every day. Because I am not hardworking, I force myself to do hard work."
Capitolo 9
Vision: The North Star of Billion-Dollar Businesses
Billionaires consistently identify having a great vision as crucial for business success. Cho Tak Wong, World Entrepreneur of the Year 2009, distills success into three words: belief, vision, and execution. Many, like Chip Wilson, credit being visionary as a key strength behind their extraordinary achievements.
Self-knowledge must precede vision-setting. Sergey Galitskiy wanted to play professional soccer as a child but pivoted when he recognized his lack of talent. Mohed Altrad emphasizes having a clear vision of your present self projected into the future. Your vision should inspire both yourself-to drive you through difficulties-and others, to win their support.
The most powerful visions transcend self-interest and improve the world. Chip Wilson's vision is "to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness." Micha Soowow named his first public company "Polish Life Improvement," believing business should enhance quality of life regardless of financial outcomes. Husnu Ozyegin founded a university in Istanbul to provide educational opportunities. Petter Stordalen pursues a "triple-bottom-line" balancing profit, sustainability, and social responsibility.
Effective vision communication requires clarity, simplicity, and proper expression. Ron Sim attributes his success to clarity about his beliefs and intentions. Dilip Shanghvi's core strength is "the ability to simplify complex issues." Make your vision durable by documenting it-write it down, print it in books like Mohed Altrad, display it prominently like Ron Sim, or even engrave it in stone like Petter Stordalen.
A compelling vision doesn't just attract talent-it makes them stick with you. When Selmo Leisgold met Lirio Parisotto, he was so captivated by Lirio's vision that he abandoned his newspaper job in Rio to work with him in provincial Caxias do Sul. Jack Cowin attributes his success to attracting people who bought into his vision: "It's not my talent, it's just leveraging and getting good people."
Like dreams, visions evolve with time. Jack Cowin's initial vision was simply to build a business, telling his investors: "I don't know whether it'll be in the chicken business, the hamburger business, making airplanes...but I'm prepared to sell my house, pack my wife, kids, move halfway around the world." Today, his vision is a multinational pizza empire. Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee repeatedly expanded his vision from being number one in the Philippines to number one in Asia to becoming one of the top five restaurant companies globally.
Capitolo 10
Taking Bold Action: The Billionaire's Advantage
Success requires action, not just knowledge, skills, or favorable conditions. As Micha Soowow discovered during Poland's transition to a free market in the 1990s: "If one was acting, if one was active, then the effect was an opportunity for making money." Tim Draper's advice is equally straightforward: "Choose a goal, and go after it."
Most people fail not by taking action and failing, but by failing to act at all-like Tim's missed opportunity with Facebook after backing out when the valuation reached $115 million. Even Tim Draper, one of the world's most successful venture capitalists, admits his biggest failures were "failures to act"-like missing out on Facebook and Yahoo investments that would have yielded enormous returns.
In business, speed trumps perfection. Perfectionism prevents action-don't wait for perfect conditions. Dilip Shanghvi entered markets before competitors, giving him advantage in psychiatry and cardiology before they became crowded fields. Kim Beom-Su believes success depends on being the best in your field and being first-"if you're first, get in fast and keep it up until the business grows."
Petter Stordalen's "Strawberry Philosophy" began when he was 12, selling strawberries at a local marketplace. Despite having a smaller stand than competitors, his father advised: "Sell the strawberries you have, because they're the only ones you can sell." This mindset transformed Petter's approach-focusing on what he had rather than envying others. He became "the best strawberry seller in Norway," selling up to 2,400 boxes daily and making more revenue than his father's two grocery stores. This philosophy-"Never focus on what you don't have. Focus on what you have and make the most out of it"-became his life motto and the foundation of his business empire.
Billionaires see themselves as creators of circumstances, not victims. While most people believe life happens to them, billionaires drive events forward. Frank Hasenfratz's favorite saying-"I don't get headaches, I give headaches"-captures this proactive mindset. Jack Cowin lives by "Don't wait for your ship to come in; row out to meet it" and "Don't wait until the dogs are barking at the door to do things." Being proactive actually takes less time than being reactive.
Luck plays a role in billionaire success, but not in the way most people think. Billionaires make their own luck through action. Husnu Ozyegin credits "hard work and luck" for his success, while Manny Stul emphasizes "you make your own luck through hard work, perseverance, passion." Billionaires believe they're lucky and assume everything will work out well. Tony Tan Caktiong says, "I think I am born with luck, so everything I do it will be okay." Even when facing bad luck, like Manny Stul's stock market collapse that shattered his career dreams, billionaires persist.
Capitolo 11
The Art of Calculated Risk-Taking
Risk-taking is essential for extraordinary business success. As Jack Cowin states, "You have to take risk to achieve something that is worthwhile." Mohed Altrad, World Entrepreneur 2015, believes "there is no success without risk." Every company begins with significant risk-to reputation, wealth, and the lives of employees who depend on you.
Courage is essential for entrepreneurs. Jack Cowin's father taught him to achieve his dreams by facing difficult challenges. Chip Wilson took his greatest risk starting Lululemon-mortgaging his house and borrowing everything possible despite having children to support. Naveen Jain overcame fear of rejection: "If you want everyone to like you, you have to do nothing, be nothing, and stand for nothing." Tim Draper considers willingness to fail his success secret: "You have to be willing to do something that might look stupid and might fail."
While risk-taking is essential, Jack Cowin warns against betting everything: "You don't have to go for broke every time. Don't bet the farm." He advises spreading risk and understanding that "singles and doubles will get you there"-you don't need home runs every time. The CEO's primary responsibility is ensuring company survival by identifying potential threats and maintaining adequate margins of error.
One of the most important qualities of an entrepreneur is assessing risk properly. Jack Cowin puts it bluntly: "Without risk, you're not going to go too far. You have to take risk. It's part of the deal." But billionaires take calculated risks with favorable risk/reward ratios. Frank Hasenfratz warns against "overextending" while Lirio Parisotto notes, "I need to be able to afford it if things go wrong." Billionaires look at potential upside, not just downside. They distribute risk rationally and match it with return.
Billionaires aren't afraid to make bold business propositions. At just 28, Tim Draper approached Activision's board asking to become CEO and use their stock to acquire Microsoft and other software companies. Though rejected, his audacity exemplifies billionaire thinking. Taking leaps of faith beyond your comfort zone is essential-like Naveen Jain founding Infospace for mobile internet before smartphones existed. "If people don't think what you're doing is crazy," says Jain, "then you're not thinking big enough."
Billionaires consider themselves limitless and never stop taking risks. To develop courage: 1) Accept that you may fail-failure is part of the journey to success; 2) Realize your insignificance in the grand scheme; 3) Understand that business risk stems from ignorance-experience reduces fear of the unknown; 4) Take more risks to handle risk better; 5) See life as an adventure and regard risk as fun; 6) Have a safety net-for Naveen Jain it's family, for Peter Hargreaves it's his chartered accountant qualification.
Capitolo 12
The Relentless Drive for Extraordinary Achievement
Hard work is non-negotiable for billionaire success. Sergey Galitskiy, who built Russia's largest food retailer with 17,000 supermarkets, advises: "Don't think that you are better than others. Only by working harder can you achieve more than the others." World Entrepreneur of the Year Mohed Altrad agrees: "You could be talented, you could be a visionary, but you have to work."
Billionaires consistently emphasize diligence as a core success factor. Mohed Altrad tells even his talented rugby players: "You have to work hard, because talent is not enough." Husnu Ozyegin admits there were always smarter people in his classes, but he could outwork them all. Hard work has two dimensions: intensity and duration. At their peak, many billionaires work every waking hour-up to 18 hours daily plus 8 hours on weekends, resulting in 105-hour workweeks that triple standard productivity.
Billionaires make diligence their competitive advantage, always finding ways to progress their business. Jack Cowin attributes his success as a college football player not to natural athleticism but to outworking everyone: "You're not the best, but nobody's going to out-train you." Hard work promotes luck, as Peter Hargreaves notes: "The more I work, the luckier I am."
Tim Draper believes success comes from embracing difficulty: "Do everything you feel is hard rather than try to take an easier route. Easy paths don't usually lead you to a good outcome." Billionaires don't hold back-they give everything they have. Petter Stordalen maintains his remarkable energy because "if you give a lot of energy, you get a lot of energy." Tim Draper depletes himself completely each day, saying "When I hit the bed at the end of a day, I have done as much as I felt I could."
Passion fuels the extraordinary work ethic of billionaires. Peter Hargreaves explains: "The biggest advantage that you can have in business is loving the industry you're in because you're not working then. It's almost a pleasure to come to work." Naveen Jain offers a powerful question to discover your passion: "Imagine if you had everything in your life, a billion dollars, a lovely family, everything that you always wanted, what would you do?" Chip Wilson, like most self-made billionaires, would do his work for free: "I would've done everything I did for no money. It was really the absolute love of going, 'I have an idea. I have a concept. I wonder if people really want it.'"
Jack Cowin offers crucial advice for those not enjoying their work: "If you're swimming against the current, it's hard... if you don't really enjoy what you're doing, you're going to get sick of it, you're going to get tired, you're going to quit because it's too hard... if you're not enjoying it, you're probably on the wrong train. Get off the train."
