Starting with Nothing but $25

[arebelspy]

This is an older story (2008) I just ran across about a kid who decides to see how hard it is to start with nothing and work your way up.

He takes the clothes on his back and $25 (for food) and that's it.

http://www.american.com/archive/2008/april-04-08/chasing-the-american-dream-with-25

From the article:

So after graduating, he went to Charleston, South Carolina, with a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, $25, and a made-up tale of woe. He spent the first two months in a homeless shelter while he worked as a day laborer. He later found a permanent position with a moving company, which gave him a stable income. This allowed Shepard to buy a (very) used pickup truck, rent and furnish an apartment with a coworker, and start saving.

During this time, he was on a strict budget, buying clothes at Goodwill and lunching on peanut butter crackers and Vienna sausages. After ten months, he left Charleston due to an illness in his family. By that point, he had saved over $5,000. Along the way, he had met dozens of marginal citizens whose lives he found relentlessly fascinating.

(He, of course, did not mention he was a college graduate or anything when getting those jobs.)

That takes some Mustachian Living.

It can be very tough out there, and everyone has their own unique circumstances, but I found this inspiring as a possibility to be able to start with basically nothing yet succeed.

[Jamesqf]

Interesting that it was a decision, though I expect made easier not only by his cultural background, as the review points out, but by having the fallback position of giving up and going home to family.  A bit harder I expect, when the fallback is starving.  Still, I'm here to show that it can be done - or could be, starting as recently as a quarter century ago.

[arebelspy]

Interesting that it was a decision, though I expect made easier not only by his cultural background, as the review points out, but by having the fallback position of giving up and going home to family.  A bit harder I expect, when the fallback is starving.  Still, I'm here to show that it can be done - or could be, starting as recently as a quarter century ago.

I definitely think that helps.  Once you're homeless, things start to work against you.  Having no address makes it tough to get a job, etc.

This (very long) article definitely gives some examples of people who have it hard: http://m.rollingstone.com/entry/view/id/28768/pn/all/p/0/?KSID=c79c15c2887b3db5c24c1ff88bf89df0

I just thought the article in the OP was interesting as an example of someone who was able to work up through hard work and thriftiness.

[Grigory]

What a great counter-argument to the fallacy-ridden "Nickel and Dimed" book. :) I remember downloading the book a while back but I never got to finish it. Thanks for posting the link!

[Chris]

What a great counter-argument to the fallacy-ridden "Nickel and Dimed" book. :) I remember downloading the book a while back but I never got to finish it. Thanks for posting the link!

I thought the same thing. Nickel and Dimed was required reading for a class, but I picked up Scratch Beginnings on my own.  It was good that N&D surfaced some of the hardships that the lower working class face, but her strategy for making a life wasn't realistic. Contrarily, Adam lived like a homeless person; he didn't go around looking for apartments on his own (and once he did get out of the homeless shelter, he got a roommate). I think he had more invested because he wasn't "borrowing" a life; it became the foundation of his current life. N&D was more or less a journalist on job rotation.

[mechanic baird]

A lot of immigrants I knew from college are like that. They had doctor and master degrees in their own countries already, but were washing dishes, scrubbing floors as janitor to afford US degrees. Once they graduate, bam! they make $60K a year and send home $55K(that might be an exaggerating.. but you get the idea) while sharing a room with 5 other immigrants students..

There is a lot we can learn from other parts of the world.

[Bakari]

A lot of immigrants I knew from college are like that. They had doctor and master degrees in their own countries already, but were washing dishes, scrubbing floors as janitor to afford US degrees. Once they graduate, bam! they make $60K a year and send home $55K(that might be an exaggerating.. but you get the idea) while sharing a room with 5 other immigrants students..

There is a lot we can learn from other parts of the world.

of course the flip side of that, is people compare poor Americans to immigrants to say "see, immigrants wrok hard, that's why they succeed" while ignoring that the immigrants who are allowed in by the INS are generally those who have either money or education already.  Starting out with a PhD or Masters - even if it isn't honored in the US - is a big leg up on success

[grantmeaname]

I think sending money home may make a difference as well. It gives people a sense of purpose. Hell, even the dishwashers at my last restaurant job were some of the most hardworking people I've met, and they sure didn't have masters' degrees.

[mechanic baird]

A lot of immigrants I knew from college are like that. They had doctor and master degrees in their own countries already, but were washing dishes, scrubbing floors as janitor to afford US degrees. Once they graduate, bam! they make $60K a year and send home $55K(that might be an exaggerating.. but you get the idea) while sharing a room with 5 other immigrants students..

There is a lot we can learn from other parts of the world.

of course the flip side of that, is people compare poor Americans to immigrants to say "see, immigrants wrok hard, that's why they succeed" while ignoring that the immigrants who are allowed in by the INS are generally those who have either money or education already.  Starting out with a PhD or Masters - even if it isn't honored in the US - is a big leg up on success

that's very true... The US degree is basically a bridge/stepping stone and they can succeed much faster than those who are from our inner city and truly got nothing..

[Jamesqf]

of course the flip side of that, is people compare poor Americans to immigrants to say "see, immigrants wrok hard, that's why they succeed" while ignoring that the immigrants who are allowed in by the INS are generally those who have either money or education already.

It's not only that, though.  Even back in the days (several decades ago) when I was working in the fields, a lot of people weren't willing to hire anglos because they thought they wouldn't work as hard as Mexicans.  Later on, when I was doing construction (this was before there were many immigrants doing it), I'd see the union guys do their standard "day's work" and knock off by 3, while I'd be putting in upwards of 100 hours some weeks...

[tooqk4u22]

The work ethic between US citizens and those from less developed nations is truly different.  Our population has become signficantly more lazy due to the abundance of resources, capital, and available social support systems whereas those immigrants come from areas where hard work necessary and is not optional just to survive. 

Hard work is optional in the US but is necessary to THRIVE. 

[grantmeaname]

Getting to America is one way of thriving if you're from a less developed nation, so don't Americans see primarily those really exceptional immigrants who have thrived through hard work?

[adam]

I was a little disappointed with the ending of the book, but otherwise I thought it was a very interesting read, especially since I live in the area.