He barely survived is how. He lived in a trailer in an orange grove for 3 months at $50 a week.
Here's a big one for you: Steve Wynn.
Worked his ass off at the casinos on Fremont Street. Back then employees received shares in the casino. Most of the employees didn't care about that. So Steve took his little paycheck and started buying up shares from the dealers, janitors, etc.
At the same time...while other young men who worked the casino's were out partying...Steve was befriending and hanging out with the old school casino owners and learning the business and getting a "rub" from them.
Eventually he got enough shares to mean something in The Golden Nugget, and with the help of his new friends (the old casino owners) he later ended up owning it.
The rest is history.
That's how you take your destiny into your own hands.
Here's a pic of young Steve Wynn at a poker table with Benny Binion. That was a very VALUABLE person to be in the company of. And it's testament to Wynn's intelligence, drive, and ambition that he was able to do what he did while others simply could not:
