Self-Made in America

The following story comes from pages 100-103 of the book “Self-Made in America” by John McCormack with David R. Legge.

Compare the attitude and actions of the couple described below to that of so many Americans today – hundreds of millions, actually – who belittle the rich, while they moan and cry about their “right” to food stamps, section 8, welfare, “free” health care, etc. I think this story will provide excellent food for thought and many revelations on How to Become a Millionaire.
When Maryanne and I were building our Greenspoint Mall salon thirteen years ago, a Vietnamese fellow would stop by each day to sell us doughnuts. He spoke hardly any English, but he was always friendly, and through smiles and sign language, we got to know each other. His name was Le Van Vu.
During the day, Le worked in a bakery, and at night he and his wife listened to audiotapes to learn English. I later learned that they slept on sacks full of sawdust on the floor of the back room of the bakery.
In Vietnam, the Van Vu family was one of the wealthiest in Southeast Asia. They owned almost one third of North Vietnam, including holdings in industry and real estate. However, after his father was brutally murdered, Le moved to South Vietnam with his mother, where he went to school and eventually became a lawyer.
Like his father before him, Le prospered. He saw an opportunity to construct buildings to accommodate the ever-expanding American presence in Vietnam and soon became one of the most successful builders in the country.
On a trip to North Vietnam, however, Le was captured by the North Vietnamese and thrown into prison for three years. He escaped by killing five soldiers and made his way back to South Vietnam where again he was arrested. The South Vietnamese government had assumed he was a “plant” from the North.
After serving time in prison, Le got out and started a fishing company, eventually becoming the largest canner in South Vietnam.
However, when Le learned that the U.S. troops and embassy personnel were about to pull out of his country, he made a life-changing decision.
He took all of the gold he had hoarded, loaded it aboard one of his fishing vessels, and sailed with his wife out to the American ships in the harbor. He then exchanged all of his riches for safe passage out of Vietnam to the Philippines, where he and his wife were taken into a refugee camp. After gaining access to the president of the Philippines, Le convinced him to make one of his boats available for fishing and, again, Le was back in business. Before he left the Philippines two years later en route to America (his ultimate dream), Le had successfully developed the entire fishing industry in the Philippines.
Nevertheless, en route to America, Le became distraught and depressed about having to start over once again with nothing. His wife tells of how she found him near the railing of the ship, about to jump overboard. “Le,” she told him, “if you do jump, what ever will become of me? We’ve been together for so long and through so much. We can do this together.”
It was all the encouragement that Le Van Vu needed. He decided to fight one more time.
When he and his wife arrived in Houston in the 1970′s, they were flat broke and spoke no English. In Vietnam, however, family takes care of family, and Le and his wife found themselves ensconced in the back room of his cousin’s bakery in the Greenspoint Mall. We were building our salon just a couple hundred feet away.
Le’s cousin offered both Le and his wife jobs in the bakery. After taxes, Le would take home $175 a week, his wife $125. Their total annual income, in other words, was $15,000. Further, his cousin offered to sell them the bakery whenever they could come up with a $30,000 down payment. The cousin would finance the remainder with a note for $90,000.
Here’s what Le and his wife did:
Even with a weekly income of $300, they decided to continue living in the back room. They kept clean by taking sponge baths for two years in the mall’s restrooms. For two years their diet consisted almost entirely of bakery goods. Each year, for two years, they lived on a total of $600, saving $30,000 for the down payment.
Le later explained to me his reasoning: “If we got ourselves an apartment, which we could afford on $300 a week, we’d have to pay the rent. Then, of course, we’d have to buy furniture. Then we’d have to have transportation to and from work, so that meant we’d have to buy a car. Then we’d have to buy gasoline for the car as well as insurance. Then we’d probably want to go places in the car, so that meant we’d need to buy clothes and toiletries. So I knew that if we got that apartment, we’d never get our $30,000 together.”
Now, if you think you’ve heard everything about Le, let me tell you, there’s more. After he and his wife had saved the $30,000 and bought the bakery, Le once again sat down with his wife for a serious chat. They still owed $90,000 to his cousin, he said, and as difficult as the past two years had been, they had to remain living in that back room for one more year.
I’m proud to tell you that in one year, my friend and mentor Le Van Vu and his wife, saving virtually every nickel of profit from the business, paid off the $90,000 note, and in just three years, owned an extremely profitable business free and clear.
Then, and only then, the Van Vu’s went out and got their first apartment. To this day, they continue to save on a regular basis, live on an extremely small percentage of their income, and, of course, always pay cash for any of their purchases.
Do you think that Le Van Vu is a millionaire today? I am happy to tell you, many times over.
As I write these words, Le is in the process of starting or acquiring six substantial companies. Newspapers and magazines have written articles on the “miracle” of Le Van Vu. Recently, he met with the deans of several major business schools at my house, and they were in awe of what Le has been able to accomplish with his life – again and again.