Sam Walton

He sold things cheaper then everyone, he never thought of anything except for building up wal mart at one point in time he had the largest fortune in amercia. His fathers job was to evict people from farms who couldnt pay thier bills. Sam Walton was born in 1918.After the first world war his father took the family to Massuri but things only got worse.After seeing his father job and what had happened to them he wanted to make sure he would never be poor. Sam started selling milk after football practice to help with his family.His parents always quarelled , he saved someone from drowning in a lake then became a golden eagle scout (he was in scouts) so he became very popular.In 1936 he entered a college and he started his first paper route which he turned into a small buisness. He started to work at J.C Penny and even got help from J.C Penny when he came to the store once.He tryed to join the army but wasn't able to because of a heart condition but was put on the reserve list.So well waiting to be called to war he got a job in a gun powder factory.He met his wife in the bowling alley then married her on valentines day.He went to war finally but then the war ended the next year he came back and began to start a plan for a buisness .

In 1945 he bought a small store and was confident that he could turn this bad buisness around and he found a way to sell goods for cheaper then other stores then he went out at night to get stock and then have it ready for the money.He thrived on beating the competition and was very good at.Within 3 years he payed off the loan he took from his father then hired his younger brother Bud as assistant manager.The owner of Sam's store wouldnt re-lease his building to Sam because he was jealous of him and wanted the building for his son but Sam didnt give up.

He went to Arkansaw and they moved into Bentinville then bought a store there and he made sure to get a 99 year lease and began to become popular in that town he was part of the towns council. Sam wanted to satisfy America's needs he heard about self service which then let customers could get their own things and then he would have to pay less for staff this was a grand success. In just over 10 years he acquired over 15 stores from arkansaw missori and kansas. He found a new procedure called discounting where he would just buy items straight from the manufacturers. Which once again allowed him to make more money.
He wanted to start his own franchise which then he had to go into debt very large but he knew this would work so he started his first store called Wal-Mart and he began stocking it with what ever he could find so from tools to clothing. It made a million dollars in sales the first year. In 1961 he bought ownership in the bank which then he could loan himself money at the bank. He expanded about 2 stores a year and then he had 18 stores within 6 years. He took his family on month long vacations usually camping to make up for the time he was gone. By 1970 he had 32 stores and his chain was still growing.He was still in debt for over 2 million dollars.He put the store on the stock market for public sale and had to compete against K-Mart.He would walk into competing stores and if he seen a lower price in their store he would call his store and tell them to lower it right now.He opened the profit sharing to all his employees. He had 195 stores by 1975 within a 160 mile radius and soon he was opening about 100 stores a year. In 1983 he was diagnosed with Lukimia and then he took an experimental drug and it worked. Hilliary Clinton worked in Wal-Mart with Sam and he had been friends with Bill Clinton.Unions were trying to unionize Wal-Mart but it was voted down and he also started a buy America campegin which once again boosted Wal-Marts popularity. He became the richest man in America but you would never know if you seen him at home when and then Black Monday came along and he lost 1 and a quarter billion dollars and said its only paper. The Waltons set up a scholarship fun where they sent 150 kids from communist countries to christian schools where they learnt about america and democracy.In 1991 Wal-Mart became the biggest retailer in america. Then in 1992 the president gave him the medal of freedom for his vision and Wal-Mart.He died 6 days after his 74th birthday.

The key idea is always to watch your competitors and to dream big no matter what and never let failure bring you down and make sure that your always humble . His mentors were his father and eventually Bill Clinton even the passion for him began when he seen what his father was doing for work and when he got a taste of buisness thats when the passion of buisness set in with him.