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This sentiment is backwards. You seem to be implying that the children wouldn't be hungry if he wasn't granted a free franchise to run and profit from. Obviousl

This sentiment is backwards. You seem to be implying that the children wouldn't be hungry if he wasn't granted a free franchise to run and profit from. Obviously you are trying to imply that it was the "saving every penny" that made him rich, not the "granted a franchise to run". But let's be real: You can't save money you didn't make to start with. The above poster is clearly calling out the gift as the reason for his success.

koolba 6y ago
I’m not implying that at all. I’m saying the real secret ingredient is a combination of grit and focus. There’s plenty of people in the USA presented with much more opportunity than this man received. Few have achieved anywhere near as much. I’d wager that if he got his first job as a janitor he’d be running a cleaning empire rather than a donut chain.
- derrida 6y ago
  If you did that you might end up broke like him!
- nsoonhui 6y ago
  Hardwork and grit is overrated. Without proper opportunity you can achieve nothing. I wish we keep survivor bias in mind when reading success stories; we should ask "out of those who work hard and gritty, how many are successful and how many are actually not?" And not "out of those who are successful, how many are hardworking?" Most of the time, hardwork is just the minimum prerequisite to success that every aspirants have, de-emphasizing the role of luck in life is simply unwise.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - manigandham 6y ago
    Hardwork and grit are absolutely not overrated and deliver a comfortable life for millions of people. If you're talking about cases of extraordinary success like this person, then hard work can vastly increase the amount of opportunity you're exposed to. Nobody says luck isn't involved, but you can improve your odds of getting lucky.
    - jedrek 6y ago
      Hard work and grit are tied to millions more cases of folks being among the working poor.
  - frakkingcylons 6y ago
    I disagree but only because I have a lower bar in mind for success. Success to me doesn't mean being a multi-millionaire or at the top of your field of interest. To me, a comfortable middle-class life is quite good (and I'm used to it). From that perspective, a cushy upper middle-class life -- the life of most people in software -- is quite a success.
  - unishark 6y ago
    Opportunity is not luck. It is everywhere. Saying opportunity is necessary is like saying air is necessary. The "luck theory" is the one that is damaging. Because the biggest real problem is people don't know about opportunities. This is one big advantage certain immigrant groups have over even locals. They have networks of people from their country telling them where to go, what skills to get, what jobs to get, how to deal with every detail of every hurdle. It's practically a mentoring system for how to succeed in the US.
- fossuser 6y ago
  Not really relevant to the idea of your point, but his first job was as a janitor (mentioned in the article). He expanded into others, including the donut shop.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

koolba 6y ago

I’m not implying that at all. I’m saying the real secret ingredient is a combination of grit and focus. There’s plenty of people in the USA presented with much more opportunity than this man received. Few have achieved anywhere near as much. I’d wager that if he got his first job as a janitor he’d be running a cleaning empire rather than a donut chain.

derrida 6y ago
If you did that you might end up broke like him!
nsoonhui 6y ago
Hardwork and grit is overrated. Without proper opportunity you can achieve nothing. I wish we keep survivor bias in mind when reading success stories; we should ask "out of those who work hard and gritty, how many are successful and how many are actually not?" And not "out of those who are successful, how many are hardworking?" Most of the time, hardwork is just the minimum prerequisite to success that every aspirants have, de-emphasizing the role of luck in life is simply unwise.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- manigandham 6y ago
  Hardwork and grit are absolutely not overrated and deliver a comfortable life for millions of people. If you're talking about cases of extraordinary success like this person, then hard work can vastly increase the amount of opportunity you're exposed to. Nobody says luck isn't involved, but you can improve your odds of getting lucky.
  - jedrek 6y ago
    Hard work and grit are tied to millions more cases of folks being among the working poor.
- frakkingcylons 6y ago
  I disagree but only because I have a lower bar in mind for success. Success to me doesn't mean being a multi-millionaire or at the top of your field of interest. To me, a comfortable middle-class life is quite good (and I'm used to it). From that perspective, a cushy upper middle-class life -- the life of most people in software -- is quite a success.
- unishark 6y ago
  Opportunity is not luck. It is everywhere. Saying opportunity is necessary is like saying air is necessary. The "luck theory" is the one that is damaging. Because the biggest real problem is people don't know about opportunities. This is one big advantage certain immigrant groups have over even locals. They have networks of people from their country telling them where to go, what skills to get, what jobs to get, how to deal with every detail of every hurdle. It's practically a mentoring system for how to succeed in the US.
fossuser 6y ago
Not really relevant to the idea of your point, but his first job was as a janitor (mentioned in the article). He expanded into others, including the donut shop.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]