There is no more accurate American descriptive phrase for rags-to-riches success: “He raised himself.” Pioneers, woodsmen, cowboys, whalers, and other quintessential classes of American heroes possessed an air of courage, self-reliance, and belief that they could beat the odds. They are wonderful displays of entrepreneurship at the most elemental level.

My favorite method of starting a business, launching a product or service is the old fashioned, do-it-yourself Bootstrapping. The ability to start a startup removes many of the obstacles that an entrepreneur normally faces. Raising money, building inventory, relying on others for support, and mounting fixed overheads are mitigated when he starts his new business.

My first two startups were both completely ripped off. I had no outside investors, no inventory on hand: my home was my office, factory, and warehouse. I made a product prototype, just one. That was all I could afford, but I made sure it was production quality.

So I hit the road. I made presentations to department store buyers, nonstop geographic circuits from my home in Cincinnati. After four weeks of gigging and living in cheap motels, and a few nights sleeping in the car, I came back with a fist full of purchase orders. Then I took the orders to New York, along with my business plan, all buttoned up and detailed, to present to the factors.

One factor is a financial firm that extends working capital to companies based on history, experience, and assets. I didn’t have any of these. But he did have a unique product, a polished plan and strategy, passion, and department store PURCHASE ORDERS. MY first date was with Walter Heller, Inc. I walked out with a contract from Walter Heller, Inc. that day.

They agreed to advance me 85% of the face value of my purchase orders.

The balance would be remitted to me, less factoring fees, when the invoices were paid. Basically, Walter Heller, Inc. became my investment bank. I immediately had the money to create inventory, organize fulfillment and business systems. I had made prior arrangements for contract fulfillment of the product, so I was able to comfortably fulfill my obligations under the purchase orders. My association with Walter Heller, Inc. continued until I sold the business. After selling my business, I went straight back to Walter Heller, Inc. with my next business.

Bootstrapping allowed me to avoid many of the pitfalls entrepreneurs face, but the gamble came at a price. I was on my own, totally self-sufficient, with no safety net, and free to succeed or fail based on my efforts alone. I was scared. My wife was a hopeless case. I resigned from an executive position with a great salary, bonus, company car and expense account. We were blessed with a second child at that time. We were building a new home. However, I was motivated and would never have forgiven myself if I hadn’t tried.

As I looked at all the options to launch my product, I kept seeing potholes and roadblocks that I wanted to avoid. I didn’t want a partner. He didn’t want to give up much, if any equity. I needed to build inventory and didn’t have the necessary funds without having a partner or investor. Speed ​​was of the essence, as you had a huge first-to-market advantage, if you got to market quickly. Just the due diligence process to secure the investment money, with no guarantee that it will be successfully funded, would jeopardize my head start.

I took stock of my limited assets, my excellent and well-vetted product, and the usual chorus of NO and “Try it,” and decided my only path was to boot. It amazes me that more entrepreneurs don’t take this eminently doable path. The reason I think this is not more common is fear. Fear of selling. Fear of being alone in one limb. A more traditional fundraising approach involves collaboration: team decisions and the ability to lay blame if failure occurs.

This is another example of bootstrapping and a unique business model applied to a very low margin, old style retail category.

Sam Pack is a Chinese immigrant in the United States. English is his second language, self-taught. He worked as a repairman and became an avid student of the American way of life, consumer wants and tastes. Sam saved every dollar possible in hopes of achieving his dream of opening his own business.

When he had a small amount of capital, he rented a small store in a Florida mall, the kind of old, tired, endemic to every city in the country.

He then bought secondhand appliances and refurbished the small inventory he gathered. He was the salesman, he had no sales experience and his English was a risk taker, a technician, a delivery man and an installer. But Sam was a student of the market and had recognized an opportunity: delivery and installation at the same time. After making a purchase, Sam would load his truck, make the delivery, and set up the unit. As he left his store, he left humorous signs detailing his whereabouts and his unique politics. After completing the job, he quickly returned to his shop and was ready to start again, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

Appliance Direct, the name of Sam Pack’s store, provided an answer to one of the appliance industry’s most vexing problems: scheduling delivery times and charges. Industry studies show that consumers hate not being sure of a reasonable delivery window. Workers usually have to schedule Saturday delivery and there are much better things to do on a Saturday than wait for the truck to arrive. Stores have light weekday deliveries with high demand on Saturdays. Sam found a niche and took advantage of it to make it a classic American hit.

People loved Sam’s service and low delivery costs. Sam started adding staff and it grew. Today, Appliances Direct is the largest appliance retailer in the state of Florida with 22 stores. Maytag, GE, Whirlpool and Amana are among the brands that sell to Sam directly, not more used units. Additionally, Sam Pack has become famous as an entrepreneur, and for starring in hilarious commercials poking fun at himself and detailing his love of home appliances and America.

This Chinese immigrant has become a billionaire in less than a generation, providing people with service they appreciate and a price that big box stores can’t match. If Sam Pack could do it, anyone should be able to try it.