He had no money when he arrived in 1973, just a piece of paper (a passport-like travel document). No relatives, no friends, didn’t speak English.
What got our conversation started was him asking me what I do for a living. Professional speaker, here yesterday to teach Creativity and Innovation at Corporate College to the regional business community.
He has always been self-employed. Gas stations, shipping, transportation, etc. But in 2008, the EPA fined him $400,000. He went to get a loan from his long-time banker. The banker’s hands were tied. It was 2008 and the world’s economic walls were crumbling.
Eventually he paid an environmental lawyer $40,000 and then paid the EPA $10k instead of $400k.
In this same time period, he discovered his wife was seeing someone else. They divorced.
He thinks people who complain about trivial things are a joke.
Shared a smile, thanked him and told him it was a great blessing to meet him.
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