People Who Became Rich With Junk

Although it is stated that money is what makes the world go around, being rich in today's society is more difficult due to growing rent, food, and transportation costs. But it is possible to rise from poverty to affluence! From tales of eccentric collectors, resourceful businesspeople, and dumpster divers, some of whom started with just $1 or less, it's time to look at a few billionaires that came from nothing!

Kyle Macdonald and his pals used to play the game Bigger and Better, which entailed exchanging a worthless object for a more expensive one, when they were young and lived in Belcarra, Canada. Typically, the game entails trading toys for items like rubber bands. But in 2005, Kyle, then 27 years old, made the decision to go all out and try to exchange a single red paperclip for a whole house. Kyle took a paperclip out of his $1 package of paperclips, posted a picture of it on Craigslist, and asked if anyone wanted to exchange.

Surprisingly, two Vancouver ladies reacted right away, offering to trade it for a pen in the shape of a fish. While publishing a picture of the pen on his blog, Kyle opted to swap again despite the fact that the pen was really fantastic. Kyle then set out on a protracted odyssey, completing 13 more exchanges that took him across North America. The pen was exchanged for a doorknob, a camping stove, a generator, then either a keg and a neon Budweiser sign, or an instant party.

By this time, Kyle's story had gained national attention, which increased awareness of his businesses. After trading down to a snowmobile, a two-person vacation, a box truck, a recording contract, a year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona, a day with Alice Cooper, and eventually a KISS snow-globe, Kyle finally upgraded.

The last transaction could have seemed like a significant downgrade, but Kyle had a strategy that involved actor and director Corbin Bernsen. With over 9,000 globes, this man has one of the greatest collections of snow globes in the entire world. I suppose each to his own! And Corbin thought the $20 KISS snow globe was priceless, so the actor proposed a trade for a part in the upcoming film "Donna on Demand" in exchange. Kyle accepted the acting role in anticipation of receiving more trade offers. From actors in training. However, he received a completely unexpected gift: a trade from the entire community of Kipling, Saskatchewan, offering him a house on the Main Street and a key to the city.

Following Kyle's move-in a few weeks after receiving his house, the town threw a huge celebration in his honour! To choose which Kipling citizen would play the role in the film, the Kipling government held tryouts. If you watch "Donna on Demand," you can witness Kipling native Nolan Hubbard make his screen debut.

The town's main tourist draw today is Kipling's enormous paperclip, and Kyle recently moved into a beautiful house! If you ask me, this trade seems fair.

Bougie Blanket: In 2007, Loren Krytzer, who wasn't at blame for the nearly fatal vehicle accident, regrettably needed to have his leg amputated. He was forced to leave his employment due to the accident, and after becoming dependent on disability payments, he moved into a friend's hut in Leona Valley, California.

He was living on less than $200 after paying $700 in rent each month. That works up to only $50 each week, which, while not nothing, won't go you very far in California. Loren was essentially confined to his home as a result.

Daytime television is becoming a lifesaver for people who are stranded at home, and one day in 2017, Loren found himself watching an episode of "Antiques Roadshow". The appraisers moved on to a first phase Navajo blanket, a rare work of Native American art that was evaluated at an astounding $500,000. As they went through an infinite list of antique coins and furnishings, they also moved on to the blanket.

Loren squinted while leaning forward. This design seemed to be extremely well known. The dingy blanket he had inherited from his great-grandmother was in his side as he reached out and took it. Even though the relic was old and weathered, Loren instantly realised it was a match when he brought it up to the TV.

When Loren told his family the news, they laughed at him and didn't think the blanket had any value. Unfazed, Loren nonetheless brought the blanket to a professional. The specialists were overjoyed, telling Loren that the blanket was an authentic original that had been passed down from Loren's great-great-grandfather who had purchased it at a trading station in the 1800s.

They persuaded Loren to sell the family relic by describing how priceless the blanket was. When the dingy blanket was put up for auction, Loren complied, and the offers poured in. A final offer of an absurd one and a half million dollars was accepted.

After costs, Loren ended up with $1.3 million more in his pocket, which he used to purchase a home, a new car, and a motorbike. I'll be monitoring past episodes of the "Antiques Roadshow" if anyone needs me, just in case any of my crap turns out to be worth millions! Yard sales are frequently replete with chewed-up G.I. Joes, vandalised furniture, and dusty DVDs.

However, in 2007, an unidentified New Yorker discovered this attractive but unremarkable five-inch diameter bowl at a yard sale, where it was being sold for a pitiful $3. After purchasing the bowl, they kept it on their mantelpiece for six years before the owner's friend advised them to have it examined by a ceramic expert. Unknowingly, the owner had been exhibiting a Ding bowl, Chinese ceramics from the Northern Song Dynasty. The bowl was manufactured between 960 and 1127 A.D., and the specialists gave it a price tag of $3 right away!

Oh, I meant $400,000, sorry! This would have represented a respectable return on investment, but when the bowl was put up for auction at Sotheby's, it garnered far higher prices. The Chinese economy has soared over the past ten years, and numerous members of the country's newly wealthy middle class have begun collecting Chinese antiques. As they seek to reclaim their nation's misplaced and stolen treasures, prices have risen as a result. The $300,000 bowl then sold for an astounding $2.2 million! So the owner became a billionaire because to this impulsive $3 purchase. I'm going to start going to yard sales more frequently.

Billionaire Bitcoiners: Over the past ten years, the value of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin has surged; the price of one of these crypto tokens increased from 14 cents in 2010 to $68,000 in November 2021. That represents an increase of 48.5 million percent.

To put that into perspective, the Earth would be around 1.5 times heavier than the sun if its mass were increased by that much. But back when Bitcoins were only worth about $5 each, a user on the internet by the name of nightMB paid about $5,000 to buy 371,000 bitcoin from his business partner. That seems curiously cheap, and it was because KnightMB's business partner was happy with the $5000 offer because he believed the coins were worthless and had no value at all.

They somehow missed the fact that at the time, those coins were actually worth $2 million, and at the height of Bitcoin's value, KnightMB's investment would have increased by an astounding 500,000,000% to be valued almost $25 billion! KnightMB did make a profit, but it was short-lived. By 2012, he had nothing left after using the value of the coins to pay off debt and donating the remaining funds to other charities. But he's not the only investor who lost track of their money before that crucial high point!

A man by the name of Laszlo Hanyecz placed a 10,000 bitcoin order for two pizzas in 2010. The bitcoin used to purchase the pizzas had a peak value of approximately $680 million. I sincerely hope the toppings weren't skimped on. Many contests actually offered away bitcoin as a consolation prize when it first started to gain popularity.

The prize fund for the esports StarCraft: Brood War clan's ICCup Starleague competition was revealed in 2011.

Those 25 bitcoins were valued little over $40 at the time. Ten years later, this 8th place reward was worth a staggering $1.7 million, which is 3400 times more than the 500 dollars awarded to the winner.

The winnings from an amateur crypto poker competition in March 2010 were divided among the top four finishers in the form of 1,500 bitcoins.The total value of the amateur prize pool was $102 million.

Since the prize pool for the most expensive professional poker tournament in history was just $82 million, these amateur players unknowingly participated in the highest stakes poker game ever. That kind of pressure makes me think I'd give up. Crazy Collectibles: When I was younger, I had no interest in money or bitcoin. Toys were the only thing I actually treasured. Despite this, some people have discovered a little fortune in their old toy boxes! Toys aren't always just for kids, anyway!

In 1983, a mystery English collector purchased 93 Star Wars figures from a grocery shop clearance rack before bringing them home and storing them. The figures were purchased for less than a dollar each, but when the collector eventually decided to sell them in 2022, the franchise had become very well-known all over the world, and these authentic sentimental items brought in more over $60,000 at auction! Although sixty thousand dollars for certain action figures may seem like a lot, the cost of collecting goes even higher!

An unnamed couple was evicted from their house in 2010 when the bank foreclosed on their property as a result of outstanding obligations. The couple really needed a superhero, and just as they were beginning to pack, they actually found one.They came uncovered a box of vintage comic comics while searching through the attic. The majority were ripped and stained, but a handful were still in good shape, including Action Comics No. 1. The pair learned from some online study that the comic is often regarded as the pinnacle of comic books because it popularised superheroes and it included Superman's debut!

Less than 100 copies of the 1938 comic, which originally cost 10 cents, have since been sold for up to $3.2 million, making it the most expensive comic book ever. The couple was shocked, but their copy of the comic wasn't quite as valuable as it first appeared to be. The experts assigned their comic a condition assessment of five out of ten, explaining that it had minor damage.

The condition can have a significant impact on a comic's worth in the world of comic book collecting. Nevertheless, despite the fact that this was an Action Comics No.

The comic book, which had tears and stains, fetched a whopping $436,000 at auction. The family's debts might easily be settled with this amount of cash! As a result, Superman did what he does best: he flew in to save the day.

Now, higher education is not often inexpensive for most individuals. Like myself, many people who wish to further their education are compelled to take out student loans in order to pay for college. However, Alex Tew from England paid for his studies in 2006 through a website called The Million Dollar Homepage. It was a very basic homepage that Alex transformed into a gold mine from a blank grid of one million pixels.

The businessman charged $1 per pixel for grid advertising space, selling it in chunks of 10 by 10. Any image could be displayed by those who bought these pixel blocks, and their pixels served as clickable links that directed buyers to their websites. On the 26th of August 2005, the website went live. By New Year's Eve, it had become extremely popular, with businesses and individuals purchasing 999,000 of the available pixels.

Tew auctioned off the last few pixels on the homepage because there was just one blank space left, earning an additional $38,000 from milliondollarweightloss.com. Tew, who had astonishingly made over $1 million in just five months, utilised the money to pay for tuition and other endeavours. Later, this genius relocated to San Francisco and co-founded Calm, a small meditation app you may have heard of! At the time, the homepage was a cutting-edge, ground-breaking method of product promotion. However, going to the million-dollar webpage today is like going back to 2005! A Free Ringtones or Hot Singles In Your Area popup simply has a certain air of nostalgia.

Dumpster Diver: Austin resident Matt Malone interprets the proverb "one man's trash is another man's treasure" literally. Matt works as a professional skip diver and spends his nights exploring skips in quest of forgotten and discarded treasures. Matt typically discovers spoiled food. However, his most priceless finds are electronics, power tools and hoover cleaners. all in flawless operating order. In addition, he says he discovered genuine Muhammad Ali paintings and a Rolodex with Donald Trump's phone number! Before reselling them on Amazon and Craigslist for a healthy profit, he cleans and fixes these objects.

Despite dealing with junk, Matt makes over $100,000 a year from his pastime, therefore his income is clearly not trash! And Matt only skip dives occasionally, earning his living as a Security Consultant by day. If Matt focused entirely on his hobby, he believes he could easily make $250,000. He would have to spend the most of his time, though, digging through the trash. That would be awful.

For those who don't know, an accumulator is a form of sports wager in the world of gambling that combines many wagers into one. To win, all of your bets must be correct, like in the case of betting on the outcomes of four football games at once. But you lose the whole deal if even one of your wagers is incorrect. Accumulators are the epitome of high-risk, high-reward wagers, and they have produced the majority of the greatest sports betting payouts. Steven Whiteley, an adventurous heating engineer from England, decided to truly push his luck when he obtained free tickets to the horse races as part of a newspaper promotion. For each of the day's six races, Steven placed a two-pound accumulator, or roughly $2.50, when he arrived. The first five horses comfortably won their races against all odds, therefore Steven's wager was decided by the day's final event.

Unfortunately, Steven had unintentionally placed a wager on Lupita, a sluggish horse that had lost all of its previous races, which was the weakest performer at the entire event. Lupita started to fall behind predictably as the race progressed until a miracle took place. The top three horses in the race all fell at the same jump midway through.This gave Lupita the opportunity to seize the lead and easily cross the finish line, boosting Steven's wealth by 1.4 million pounds, or around $1.8 million at the time.

Steven and Lupita had both triumphed in their debut horse races. I hope Steven gave up while he was ahead even though I'm sure Lupita will go on to win many more awards! Hollywood would have you believe that there are plenty of James Bond-style characters drinking shaken Martinis while smouldering at a poker table at Vegas casinos.

In actuality, the vast majority of casinos resemble this, complete with slot machines and blinding lights. The chances of winning the top prize when using the maximum coin play range from one in 5,000 to one in about 34 million, making slot machine odds some of the worst. Given that, it comes as no surprise that they generate up to 80% of a Vegas casino's yearly revenue. Even though it's generally believed that the house always triumphs, Elmer Sherwin has a reputation for having exceptionally good success when playing the slots.

Sherwin and his former spouse went to the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1989. Sherwin played for 90 minutes on the $3 slots using 20 dollars he borrowed from his ex before hitting the jackpot and winning $4.6 million with a single pull. This one-million-dollar prize was an extraordinary win. It didn't happen just once in a lifetime for Sherwin.

He went to the Cannery Casino's slot machines in 2005, and after a few hours of play, he struck it rich once more! This time, the jackpot was a huge $21 million. The likelihood of hitting the jackpot just once is about one in 50 million, and the likelihood of doing so twice is equal to the likelihood of being struck by lightning 100 times in a single year!

Sherwin had the good fortune to go away with a small fortune instead of singed eyebrows. He donated the majority of his profits to charity, his children, and of course, slot machines all around Las Vegas before passing away in 2007. Did you really believe he would stop playing?

Let's switch from slots to the lottery for Instant Billionaire. Entering the US Mega Millions Lottery appears rather reasonable at $2 per ticket. In reality, though, your chances of winning are probably about one in 302 million. You're better off saving money. However, the prize does occasionally go to a lucky winner.

And in 2018, a South Carolina lady who won 1.5 billion dollars in the lottery became the game's highest ever winner. That's billion, with a B, of course! Although the South Carolinian may appear to be the luckiest person in the world, many lottery winners actually describe their win as the worst thing that has ever happened to them.

Michael Carrol, a millionaire from Norfolk, England, is one of these unlucky millionaires. Michael was a garbage man in October 2002, working from 9:00 to 5:00 to make ends meet. He won $11.7 million in the lotto a month later, making him an instant millionaire.

Carroll was able to acquire jewellery, automobiles, and real estate because to this victory. But it also brought about alcoholism, legal issues, jail time, and ultimately bankruptcy.

Carroll returned to physical labour five years after his victory, albeit he partially attributed his misfortune to money-hungry friends and family who had taken his money without helping him. The South Carolina billionaire who won decided to keep their identity a secret, and based on Michael Carroll's account, that decision appears to have been a wise one. Junkyard King: Ron Sturgeon's father passed away when he was 17 years old, leaving him with nothing more than $2,000 and a beat-up VW Beetle.

Ron didn't have a place to live, so he spent the two thousand dollars for a caravan in Fort Worth, Texas, and found work fixing Volkswagens for other people.

Using components from junkyard automobiles, Ron would repair VWs. He would buy junk automobiles, disassemble them, and reuse the parts in the cars of his clients as he was paid for repair jobs. Ron quickly accumulated about 35 vehicles, and he soon understood that he could just sell them instead of using the parts to repair other people's VWs.

He could always make money if he bought a good junkyard automobile for $100 and sold the pieces for at least $150. Ron would visit a junkyard every week to look at the cars in an effort to buy them and sell the parts. Ron's business plan was essentially error-free. And after a few years, he had acquired his own warehouse and salvage yard. The beat-up businessman was able to leave the caravan park, and Ford purchased the firm for $15 million in 1999 due to its success. Ron's story might have come to an end at this point. Ford, on the other hand, began to destroy the company, and after a few years, they returned it to Ron at a steep discount. Ron was able to regain control of the business, use his knowledge to make it lucrative once more, and then sell it again for tens of millions of dollars.

Ron is no longer involved in the junk business, and the Texan has traded in his caravan for a number of mansions and his junk cars for private aircraft. That is an upgrade, right there! Trash to Cash: Let's keep it trashy and focus on another business that has generated millions by selling only crap.

College Boys The multi-million dollar organisation that deals with the collection of private rubbish, Hauling Junk, has a name that seems a touch dirty, and it is. Hunks is a prosperous business now, but the venture had extremely modest beginnings.Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman wanted to earn some additional money for college in the summer of 2003. So the two made the decision to drive door to door while offering to pick up people's trash in Omar's mother's van.

That summer, they made over $9,000, and the service was so well-received that it continued even when they returned to school.

The two were anticipated to begin searching for office jobs and starting their adult lives as graduation approached. Omar made the decision to draught a business plan and enter the fiercely competitive Leigh Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition despite his continued belief in their venture. Omar's strategy succeeded against all odds, taking home the $10,000 grand prize.The two made the decision to concentrate on the business with this money, purchasing a vehicle and developing the Hunks brand.

The business first employed University of Maryland students and distributed flyers while paying them to remove trash. After only a year, they had to purchase four more trucks, and following two years of explosive development, they made the decision to franchise the company, allowing others to build their own Hunks locations around the nation.

Today, the company has 200 vehicles, more than 50 franchises, and a $25 million yearly revenue, demonstrating that for Nick and Omar, our waste truly is their treasure.

There is no such thing as reinventing the wheel. It turns out, though, that you can invent something else using wheels. Every year, 1.8 billion tyres are thrown out globally, which has a negative impact on the environment. Many people are looking for ways to recycle this used rubber as climate change worsens, and one of the more intriguing places where this is being done is in Kenya. East African natives known as the Maasai have unique traditions, attire, and language.

For hundreds of years, the Maasai sandal-making process has basically not changed. Recently, though, they've been experimenting with different materials, creating sandals from used tyres. The top of the shoe is constructed by these cobblers using the tire's smooth side before the sole is constructed utilising the tire's sticky tread. Although the shoes won't boost your horsepower, they might raise your miles per gallon.

Rubber used in tyres is highly resilient and made to support big trucks on asphalt. The result is that the shoes have earned the moniker "ten-thousand milers" and the tough style has skyrocketed in popularity. Munyao, a Nairobi-born shoemaker, is said to be able to produce seven to eight pairs of shoes each tyre and sell them for up to $5 each. Munyao gathers the used tyres on his own, earning a respectable living without investing any money on supplies. He's not developing anything new, but he is preserving the earth, so that's something.The Seeking of

"Happiness": Chris Gardner is a bestselling author, rich stockbroker, and motivational speaker today. Although he is the epitome of success, things weren't always like this.

In the 1980s, Chris was a single father who made ends meet by selling medical equipment. One day as Chris was on his way to work, he saw a man in a suit getting out of a red Ferrari. He approached the man out of curiosity and inquired as to his occupation. After a lengthy discussion, Chris was able to convince the man—who identified himself as a stockbroker—to set up an interview for an internship at a stock brokerage company. Amazingly, Chris won the company over and secured the position.

But because the internship was unpaid, he and his son were left with nowhere to live.Gardner used his meagre money to enrol his son in childcare while he was at work. However, at night they were made to sleep in a locked public lavatory and eat in soup kitchens. Gardner still dressed up every morning and went to work, surprising the business by showing up early and remaining late. A year of squalor afterwards,

After being given a full-time position, Gardner was finally able to use his pay to purchase a home for himself and his son. After a few years of employment, he founded his own brokerage company and published his autobiography, which was later made into the Oscar-winning movie "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Gardner's net worth is currently at over $70 million, and the entrepreneur even purchased a Ferrari for himself. Numerous others all around the world have been inspired by this tale, including Nick Mocuta, another homeless man who became wealthy!

At the age of 21, Nick immigrated to Los Angeles from Romania. He had no money, had to sleep on a bench, and subsisted on a single dollar-menu burger each day. Nick eventually found work as a valet and immediately began saving, scraping pennies until he could afford to earn a real estate broker's licence. Nick began serious saving once he entered the real estate market.

In 2013, he also made the decision to use his funds to try out e-commerce by purchasing inexpensive electronics online and reselling them on eBay.

Soon, Nick's internet store was bringing him $48,000 a year, and now he owns many Amazon and Walmart websites!

He is now enjoying champagne meals rather just benches and hamburgers! He might not have owned a Ferrari like Gardner, but he undoubtedly had the ambition to become a rich.

We've now finished discussing these unusual sources of income. Which rags-to-riches tale struck you as the most motivational? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.