Don't Accept The Defeatist Lie That Poverty And Social Circumstance Holds People Back.
For folks who might not know what having "grit" is all about, they need to understand that grit is the passion and long-term perseverance that you put out to stick to your goals, those difficult goals in life that only you fight to achieve.
Grit is an American trait that should be celebrated because it is at the core of the American spirit and the pursuit of the American Dream.
Sadly, there are nay-sayer people in our midst who tell others that having grit, passion, and the ability to stick to goals doesn't matter. Those nay-sayers relish telling others that those attributes don't matter because they came from poverty, or they lacked "stable housing," or were "victims" of some imaginary thing the Left calls an "unfair social structure."
Those nay-sayers work at convincing Americans that giving a project all you have is just too hard -- unless you get support from others. They are defeatist who will tell you that you're stuck where you're at in life no matter how hard you work to better yourself. For me, I feel sort of sorry for people with such "defeatist" attitudes. Really though, I feel bad for those who agree with their defeatist attitude.
In reality, American history has all sort of stories of self-made individuals, immigrants, and workers who faced steep odds, but still prevailed in the end. Most came from poverty. Most lacked "stable housing."
None of the stories that I've ever read described men and women with grit, as "victims" of some imaginary thing the Left calls an "unfair social structure." The fact is, most would tell you that it was their lousy circumstance growing up that made them push themselves. It's true, poverty, or fear of poverty, can be a great motivator for people to work harder to excel in life.
Many bootstrap entrepreneurs of 1800s America rose from humble beginnings to become influential figures in the industrial landscape. These individuals exemplified the spirit of the American Dream. They did so by leveraging hard work and innovation to achieve success.
As an example, let's look at the famous John D. Rockefeller who started from very modest beginnings. Born in Richford, New York, in 1839, he grew up in a family that moved a lot and lived from hand to mouth. His family finally settled in Strongsville, Ohio, in 1853. It's a suburb of Cleveland.
Many bootstrap entrepreneurs of 1800s America rose from humble beginnings to become influential figures in the industrial landscape. These individuals exemplified the spirit of the American Dream. They did so by leveraging hard work and innovation to achieve success.
As an example, let's look at the famous John D. Rockefeller who started from very modest beginnings. Born in Richford, New York, in 1839, he grew up in a family that moved a lot and lived from hand to mouth. His family finally settled in Strongsville, Ohio, in 1853. It's a suburb of Cleveland.
At age 16, he took a bookkeeping course. Some say he completed it, but some say he didn't. Either way, he spent weeks walking Cleveland's streets in search of work which was hard to find. He finally landed a job as an assistant bookkeeper for a produce firm called Hewitt & Tuttle. He began working for them on September 26, 1855. And yes, he earned .50 cents a day, which was $3.50 for a 7 day work week. And believe it or not, he also "tithed" 10% of his earnings to charity.
By age 20, John D. Rockefeller had enough personal savings to start his own produce-shipping business. Even making that sort of money, and working at other jobs, he was able to save $1,000.
He combined his savings with a small loan from his father to build capital. In the end, he founded Standard Oil, which dominated the oil industry and made him one of the richest men in history. In fact, John D. Rockefeller rose from modest beginnings to become the world's first billionaire.
Let's look at Andrew Carnegie who was born into a poor family in Scotland. It's true, Andrew Carnegie was born into poverty in a one-room weaver's cottage in Scotland. His family immigrated to America in 1848. At age 13, he started working as a "bobbin boy" in a Pennsylvania cotton mill. He earned just $1.20 per week at that job.
Andrew Carnegie didn't let his poor start in life stop him, the same as how he didn't let making $1.20 a week stop him, from pursuing bigger and better things. He had the personal drive to teach himself to use the telegraph. And with that, he caught the attention of railroad executives who made him a telegrapher.
Let's look at Andrew Carnegie who was born into a poor family in Scotland. It's true, Andrew Carnegie was born into poverty in a one-room weaver's cottage in Scotland. His family immigrated to America in 1848. At age 13, he started working as a "bobbin boy" in a Pennsylvania cotton mill. He earned just $1.20 per week at that job.
Andrew Carnegie didn't let his poor start in life stop him, the same as how he didn't let making $1.20 a week stop him, from pursuing bigger and better things. He had the personal drive to teach himself to use the telegraph. And with that, he caught the attention of railroad executives who made him a telegrapher.
By the 1860s, he had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company. He sold his Carnegie Steel Company to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303,450,000.
Carnegie Steel Company was the basis of U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American of the time. It's said that his passion to never be poor again, drove him to work tirelessly. In the end, the poor uneducated boy grew into one of the wealthiest men of his time.
Cornelius Vanderbilt started out as a poor farmer. In fact, he was born to a poor, illiterate family on Staten Island, New York. He had to quit school at age 11 to go to work to help feed his family. He gave his wages to his mother.
At age 16, he "borrowed" $100 from his mother to buy a small perch boat. After that, he spent his teenage years ferrying passengers and cargo across New York Harbor. He worked relentlessly through brutal conditions until he amassed enough capital to buy more boats. In the end, Cornelius Vanderbilt build a global shipping and railroad network. He made his fortune in shipping and railroads. It's said he transformed American transportation.
From America's early frontier pioneers to modern entrepreneurs, we rightfully credit individual determination for overcoming major economic and social hurdles.
Messaging to say otherwise is a lie told by those without the sand to get off their collective asses and follow their passion. For those nay-sayers who don't try, they will never know the sacrifice and hard work that it takes to fight the good fight.
Cornelius Vanderbilt started out as a poor farmer. In fact, he was born to a poor, illiterate family on Staten Island, New York. He had to quit school at age 11 to go to work to help feed his family. He gave his wages to his mother.
At age 16, he "borrowed" $100 from his mother to buy a small perch boat. After that, he spent his teenage years ferrying passengers and cargo across New York Harbor. He worked relentlessly through brutal conditions until he amassed enough capital to buy more boats. In the end, Cornelius Vanderbilt build a global shipping and railroad network. He made his fortune in shipping and railroads. It's said he transformed American transportation.
From America's early frontier pioneers to modern entrepreneurs, we rightfully credit individual determination for overcoming major economic and social hurdles.
Messaging to say otherwise is a lie told by those without the sand to get off their collective asses and follow their passion. For those nay-sayers who don't try, they will never know the sacrifice and hard work that it takes to fight the good fight.
The spirit of Americans with grit is at the foundation of our country's success.
Frankly speaking, my belief that a defeatist attitude is un-American is a sentiment deeply rooted in traditional concepts of American identity, culture, and history. I'm not the only person who believes that. It's connected to several of our core beliefs as Americans.
For example, America's "Frontier Spirit" is about early Americans who emphasized overcoming harsh conditions, exploring the unknown, and persevering through grit and determination. Early Americans relied heavily on the idea of overcoming seemingly insurmountable geographic and environmental obstacles. This goes to the heart of our American cultural expectation of perseverance, ingenuity, and a refusal to give up when facing hardship.
"American Exceptionalism" is the belief that the United States has a unique mission and destiny in the world. Within this framework, failing or adopting a defeatist attitude is often viewed as a rejection of one's higher purpose or potential.
American culture has historically prized practical action and problem-solving. We admire people with a "can-do attitude." It reflects on our cultural preference to focus on solutions rather than dwelling on limitations.
America's cultural identity traditionally rejects defeatism. Our mindset instead to practice resilience and hard work. Look at our history, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War I, and World War II are rightfully thought of as victories achieved by refusing to give up in the face of overwhelming odds.
As motivation, our strengths to prevail through challenges has been used as a rallying cry in politics, sports, and business to inspire resilience, unity, and a proactive approach to solving major national or personal challenges. Folks like me who label pessimism and defeatism as "un-American," truly believe that hard work produces rewards that only others with a positive attitude can understand. And yes, in case you're wondering, I really believe that skeptics who see America in a negative light truly lack patriotism.
Growing up poor and wanting more in life should motivate us to work harder and pursue our dreams even harder than ever. People will never achieve success with a defeatist attitude. A person who tends to expect bad things to happen and focuses on the negative parts of a situation usually get exactly what he or she focused on -- failure.
Let's remember, big and small bootstrap entrepreneurs built America. It was the individual determination of self-reliant settlers, merchants, railroad men, saloon owners, the man or woman who started a laundry, the guy who had a single wagon who started a freight company, the woman who started a diner in a tent in a mining camp, the lone prospector who followed his dream of striking it rich, the cattlemen who started with nothing other than a desire to round up viral cattle and feed them to hungry miners, and yes, the cowboy who saved his money instead of drinking and gambling it away because he hoped to one day have his own spread, they build America.
All of those who built businesses from scratch using minimal personal resources, a whole lot of grit, and a total willingness to give an extreme amount of hard work to their business, in fact built America. They had the determination to stick to it, ride it out, and start over again if that's what's needed.
Bootstrap entrepreneurs in the Old West were no different than today's bootstrap entrepreneurs in that they built businesses from scratch using personal grit, minimal capital, and local opportunities rather than large outside capital. Those folks were self-reliant. They pushed themselves to build businesses from scratch using minimal personal resources, a whole lot of grit, a total willingness to give an extreme amount of hard work to their business, and the determination to stick to it, ride it out, and start over again if that's what's needed.
Most operated on shoestring budgets, reinvesting early profits directly into supplies, livestock, or storefront expansions. They were frugal and repurposed everyday materials and solved immediate regional shortages, such as tools, flour, and clothing, while tailoring goods to local frontier demands.
While I believe the best example of bootstrap entrepreneurs in the Old West is the American cattle rancher of the 1800s, the men who went to Texas with the dream of rounding up viral Longhorn cattle and getting them to market took a lot of guts, there were a lot of tough Americans in the 1800s that followed their dream of freedom and independence by being their own boss.
General Store owners in some towns across the West often started with a single wagon of dry goods, trading directly with miners, trappers, cattlemen, cowboys, and incoming homesteaders before building permanent timber storefronts. Traders often bartered goods for labor, pelts, or future harvest shares when hard currency was scarce.
As for Outfitters and Blacksmiths, it is a fact that skilled tradesmen utilized basic hand tools to service wagon trains, build towns, repair mining equipment, dig wells, all the while keeping their business alive with whatever they made a day.
As for trailblazing merchants, like Levi Strauss who started with modest dry goods wholesale before identifying and funding specific frontier clothing needs like durable riveted pants made out of tent canvas for miners.
John W. Mackay was known as "The Miner Turned Silver King." He arrived in Virginia City, Nevada, as a penniless Irish immigrant. He began working as a common, manual laborer in the silver mines. Instead of spending his wages in the saloons and gambling halls, Mackay worked double shifts and used every spare dollar to buy up tiny, fractional shares of unproven mining claims from discouraged miners.
He pooled his bootstrapped equity with three partners in order to form the Bonanza Firm. In 1873, they hit the "Big Bonanza." It was the richest concentration of silver and gold ore ever discovered. That event made John W. Mackay one of the wealthiest men in the world. He later used his fortune to build a global communications network that challenged the Western Union monopoly.
Another example is Biddy Mason who was born a slave. It's true. She was born into slavery, and arrived in California in 1851 after walking 2,000 miles behind a pioneer wagon train. After legally winning her freedom in a landmark 1856 court case, she found herself in Los Angeles with no money, assets, or property.
She didn't simply give up. Instead, she took up being a Midwife and nurse. She saved her money and over time she reinvested her cash into low-cost downtown Los Angeles piece of property that no one else wanted. That led to her creating a Real Estate empire. Before she passed, she was known for her philanthropy.
Fred Harvey was known as "The Civilizer" of the West. He was a British immigrant who worked his way up from working as a dishwasher in New York City to becoming a railroad clerk. He noticed that the food options for railroad travelers were consistently pretty poor. He took note of the fact that the men's meals often consisting of rancid meat and stale beans served in dirty shacks.
He partnered with the Santa Fe Railway to build the first restaurant chain in the West. His sweat equity and railroad partnership paid off. He reinvested his restaurant cash flow into a standardized chain called Harvey Houses which was the first restaurant chain in the United States. He transformed roadside hospitality through disciplined low-cost expansion.
Robert Massie became known as "The Sheep King." In 1883, 16-year-old Robert Massie arrived in West Texas completely broke and signed on as a lowly hand herding sheep. Taking payment in livestock. He bred his own flock. He ended up owning thousands of acres of Texas cattle ranching, and got into banking.
Seth Bullock and Sol Star were known for hardware and hospitality. They were merchants, partners, in Montana. They recognized a massive cash-flow opportunity during the 1876 Black Hills Gold Rush in Deadwood, South Dakota. With one wagon of hardware, and a quick inventory turnover, they funded a permanent storefront. They built the Bullock Hotel and were in cattle ranching.
What made America's 19th-Century Bootstrap Entrepreneurs successful was self-reliance, passion, and determination to better themselves and their families through hard work. We know that being born to poverty didn't stop them. Instead of stopping them, in many cases, they packed up whatever they had and migrated West.
Settlers coming West started businesses, farms, took up trades, created stores and services all with little money and little to no outside funding. They relied entirely on sweat equity, and maybe used trade credit. Early ventures focused on immediate survival needs like general stores, blacksmithing, freight hauling, saloons, and a lot more businesses.
Owners who survived and prospered are the ones who learned to pivot quickly when mines closed and people started leaving, when booms went bust, when railroads changed routes and towns died because of it, when cattle drives ended and that well went dry for cattle towns that depended on the money that those drives brought in.
The core reality of economic survival in the American frontier was adaptability. The historical boom-and-bust cycles forced business owners and communities to constantly evolve. Towns built around gold, silver, or copper, like Tombstone, Arizona, and Bodie, California, could turn into ghost towns overnight once the veins ran dry. Surviving businesses had to move or shift to supplying agriculture instead of mining.
The railroad was the lifeblood of 19th-century commerce. If a railroad bypassed a town, that town often withered and died. Prosperous owners literally packed up their buildings and moved them closer to the new tracks.
The end of cattle drives and open-range cattle drives, like the Chisholm Trail, ended in the late 1880s due to barbed wire, expanding railroads, and harsh winters. Cattle towns like Abilene and Dodge City had to pivot from wild transit hubs to settled farming and ranching communities to survive.
The lesson was hard for some to learn: those who cling to a dying industry perish, while those who pivot survive. It's ultimately a lesson that still applies today.
The 19th-century Old West was a prime landscape for bootstrap entrepreneurship, where individuals with zero funding relied entirely on personal hard work, sweat equity, and cash flow to build commercial empires in some cases. Without venture capitalists or traditional banking networks, these founders utilized creative funding, resourcefulness, shear determination, and a lot of guts to make their businesses a success.
That's why we can say without hesitation that America's 19th-Century Bootstrap Entrepreneurs built America. That's why we should remember and admire those men and women. Their grit should influence others to never give up.
Tom Correa
She didn't simply give up. Instead, she took up being a Midwife and nurse. She saved her money and over time she reinvested her cash into low-cost downtown Los Angeles piece of property that no one else wanted. That led to her creating a Real Estate empire. Before she passed, she was known for her philanthropy.
Fred Harvey was known as "The Civilizer" of the West. He was a British immigrant who worked his way up from working as a dishwasher in New York City to becoming a railroad clerk. He noticed that the food options for railroad travelers were consistently pretty poor. He took note of the fact that the men's meals often consisting of rancid meat and stale beans served in dirty shacks.
He partnered with the Santa Fe Railway to build the first restaurant chain in the West. His sweat equity and railroad partnership paid off. He reinvested his restaurant cash flow into a standardized chain called Harvey Houses which was the first restaurant chain in the United States. He transformed roadside hospitality through disciplined low-cost expansion.
Robert Massie became known as "The Sheep King." In 1883, 16-year-old Robert Massie arrived in West Texas completely broke and signed on as a lowly hand herding sheep. Taking payment in livestock. He bred his own flock. He ended up owning thousands of acres of Texas cattle ranching, and got into banking.
Seth Bullock and Sol Star were known for hardware and hospitality. They were merchants, partners, in Montana. They recognized a massive cash-flow opportunity during the 1876 Black Hills Gold Rush in Deadwood, South Dakota. With one wagon of hardware, and a quick inventory turnover, they funded a permanent storefront. They built the Bullock Hotel and were in cattle ranching.
What made America's 19th-Century Bootstrap Entrepreneurs successful was self-reliance, passion, and determination to better themselves and their families through hard work. We know that being born to poverty didn't stop them. Instead of stopping them, in many cases, they packed up whatever they had and migrated West.
Settlers coming West started businesses, farms, took up trades, created stores and services all with little money and little to no outside funding. They relied entirely on sweat equity, and maybe used trade credit. Early ventures focused on immediate survival needs like general stores, blacksmithing, freight hauling, saloons, and a lot more businesses.
Owners who survived and prospered are the ones who learned to pivot quickly when mines closed and people started leaving, when booms went bust, when railroads changed routes and towns died because of it, when cattle drives ended and that well went dry for cattle towns that depended on the money that those drives brought in.
The core reality of economic survival in the American frontier was adaptability. The historical boom-and-bust cycles forced business owners and communities to constantly evolve. Towns built around gold, silver, or copper, like Tombstone, Arizona, and Bodie, California, could turn into ghost towns overnight once the veins ran dry. Surviving businesses had to move or shift to supplying agriculture instead of mining.
The railroad was the lifeblood of 19th-century commerce. If a railroad bypassed a town, that town often withered and died. Prosperous owners literally packed up their buildings and moved them closer to the new tracks.
The end of cattle drives and open-range cattle drives, like the Chisholm Trail, ended in the late 1880s due to barbed wire, expanding railroads, and harsh winters. Cattle towns like Abilene and Dodge City had to pivot from wild transit hubs to settled farming and ranching communities to survive.
The lesson was hard for some to learn: those who cling to a dying industry perish, while those who pivot survive. It's ultimately a lesson that still applies today.
The 19th-century Old West was a prime landscape for bootstrap entrepreneurship, where individuals with zero funding relied entirely on personal hard work, sweat equity, and cash flow to build commercial empires in some cases. Without venture capitalists or traditional banking networks, these founders utilized creative funding, resourcefulness, shear determination, and a lot of guts to make their businesses a success.
That's why we can say without hesitation that America's 19th-Century Bootstrap Entrepreneurs built America. That's why we should remember and admire those men and women. Their grit should influence others to never give up.
Tom Correa
