7 People’s First Jobs They Had Before They Became Billionaires (2 of 2)

Evan Spiegel – Red Bull Promoter

Before becoming the founder of social media platform Snapchat, Spiegel worked as a promoter for the well-known energy drink Red Bull. Interning as one, he handed out the energy drink in clubs and bars during his high school years in Santa Monica’s Crossroads school. After high school, the experience Spiegel gained got him interested in the study of product design. Taking up courses related to that at Stanford, he eventually ran into his future co-founders Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy.

Michael Bloomberg – Parking Lot Attendee

Worth today at $47.5 billion dollars, Bloomberg is known for the investment decisions he’s made, as well as his political career. But before he became that person, he started with quite the uncommon job of tending to parking lots. He, like others on this list, was not born in a rich family and worked at a parking lot to support himself.

Through this experience, Bloomberg learned the value of hard work and his dedication to that job paid him dividends. Through his efforts, he paid all his college fees with the money earned and was even able to pay for his MBA with the funds. After that, he moved to Wall Street at Salomon and began his career of being one of the richest individuals on the planet.

David Geffen – Clerk in a Mailroom

Today we know Geffen for his contributions to entertainment, founding studios like Asylum Records, Geffen Records and DreamWorks SKG. He started his first job in 1964 as a mailroom clerk. In an interview with him, he mentioned that he started in not your typical mailroom, but rather a mailroom of a talent agency called William Morris. Geffen was able to land the job due to his unique style of opening and reading mail. He learned how to steam open mail and read memos on desks upside down as a means of generating more value to the company.

As you can tell from all these stories, even a person’s first job can develop and grow into something that they are known for today in some way. No matter where you start at the beginning, you too can become a billionaire so long as you look back at those first experiences, have the passion and perseverance and the patience that these individuals do.