The world got its first billionaire in the early 1900s — with more than 3000 people surpassing the milestone this year. Many of these individuals have built their empires from scratch, at time beginning life in impoverished conditions. Self-made American billionaire John Morgan, however, insisted during a recent interview that “luck” was a significant component that worked in tandem with hard work.
“My best advice for everybody: Life is luck. I made a thousand left turns and a thousand right turns. If I had made one different turn…everything could have been different. Everything! And yet I pat myself on the back and think about how great I am? No. I’m a lucky guy. Successful people pat themselves on the back too much. What they really should do is get on their knees and thank God that those left turns and right turns ended up here,” he said.
“If it smells like dog s**t…there’s dog s**t. If it’s too good to be true…it’s too good to be true,” he added pragmatically.
The well-known lawyer, however, opined that not every individual was cut out for entrepreneurship. The message — delivered during a brief social media interview with ‘The School Of Hard Knocks’ — has since gone viral with millions commenting and liking the post on Instagram.
Self made billionaire
Morgan told the influencer that he had not come from money and faced several hurdles over his nearly five-decade-long career. He had founded his own company after graduating as a lawyer in the 1980s — building it into a multibillion-dollar empire that handled more than 100,000 cases every year. And upon being asked how much money he had made in the last year, Morgan delivered an unlikely answer: “More than LeBron James.”
“My dad needed a cosigner to pay cash. No. I did not come from a lot of money,” he recalled with a laugh.
Who is John Morgan?
American attorney John Morgan is a self-made billionaire who founded the largest personal injury law firm in the US — Morgan and Morgan. He owns about half of the $2 billion company with the entire family (his wife and sons) working as lawyers with the family firm. Morgan and Morgan was launched in 1988 after his younger brother was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenage lifeguard at a Disney resort. According to the Forbes billionaire index, he is currently worth $1.5 billion and the 2381st richest man in the world.
Morgan started his legal career in 1982 after graduating from law school — eventually teaming up with Stewart Colling and Ron Gilbert to start what would become Morgan & Morgan in 1988. The duo split amicably from the firm in 2005, with Morgan reportedly paying them “millions and millions” to buy out their stakes and maintain a controlling interest in the company.