{"id":157,"date":"2019-05-10T12:47:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T12:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thepowerofpositivedoing\/?p=157"},"modified":"2019-05-10T12:47:40","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T12:47:40","slug":"from-homeless-and-hopeless-to-millionaire-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thepowerofpositivedoing\/2019\/05\/from-homeless-and-hopeless-to-millionaire-entrepreneur.html","title":{"rendered":"From Homeless and Hopeless … to Millionaire Entrepreneur"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Beasley is a millionaire. Thirty years ago he was homeless. How did he take his life from one extreme to the other? I asked him to tell me his story.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/a>
Sam Beasley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a successful businessman today \u2013 you own commercial real estate and several businesses,\u201d I began. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine you ever being on the skids. How did you ever end up being homeless? What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI got divorced, I lost my business, and I got depressed,\u201d Sam replied. \u201cI just spiraled downward. I turned to alcohol and drugs to ease my pain, but they just made my depression worse. It finally got to the point that I just couldn\u2019t take care of myself. Depressed people often find even basic self-care impossible and that\u2019s where I was \u2013 down for the count. I crashed on friends\u2019 sofas until I finally wore out my welcome and didn\u2019t have anywhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you sleep in your car?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have a car,\u201d Sam answered. \u201cI started sleeping in garages, since I didn\u2019t want to sleep outside. That was my lowest point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out for help and found a support group,\u201d Sam responded. \u201cI got better advice from them than from anyone else in my life. They helped me pull up my self-esteem. The told me to get a job, which I did. They told me to buy groceries and eat healthy, so I did. I just did what they told me to do \u2013 because clearly my best thinking had gotten me nowhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize at the time how depressed I was. Losing my marriage was bad enough, but to lose my business on top of that was just too much. Business setbacks are particularly difficult for men because we get so much of our identity and self-respect from work and making money. I look back now and I can see that I was depressed. And of course, the booze and drugs just made it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was,\u201d Sam nodded. \u201cI vowed I would never go back there again. Through the help of my support group, I was able to get stable. The job I got came with a truck, so I had wheels again. I was able to become self-supporting and do the basics in terms of taking care of myself. I returned to college. Eventually I remarried. I finished school and got a better job doing work I loved.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then I discovered credit. I knew nothing about credit cards and really didn\u2019t understand how they worked. I\u2019m a smart guy, but I\u2019d never had any exposure or experience to teach me about the responsible use of credit cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still rebuilding my life and so I started to use credit to speed the process along. I got in over my head. It got to the point that I couldn\u2019t cover my expenses. In short, I had put myself at risk again.<\/em> Thank God, this time I didn\u2019t have to go so low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you do to get out of hock?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time I knew to ask for help sooner,\u201d Sam replied. \u201cI asked people in my support group for their advice. \u2018How do you not<\/em> incur debt?\u2019 I asked them. It sounds kind of silly, I guess, telling the story now. But really, I didn\u2019t have a clue how to live life without using credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I began to ask other people \u2013 folks outside my support group. I watched for people who looked like they had money and set out to learn from them. I was willing to ask for advice. It was awkward in the beginning, but I discovered that most people love to be asked \u2013 they\u2019re happy to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost important, I was willing to do what these people said. I trusted them. I wanted what they had, so I was willing to do what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did these people tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the first things they told me was \u2018every time you get paid, save a little and give a little.\u2019<\/em> So I did it. I would take a little of each paycheck and sock it away, and take a little and give it to charity or someone else who needed help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to have breakfast all the time at the same coffee shop,\u201d Sam continued. \u201cI noticed a group of men who were there every time I was and I began to watch them. They all looked successful \u2013 they wore nice clothes; they drove nice cars; they seemed confident and self-assured. So then I began to sit with them. I didn\u2019t talk much \u2013 I just listened to them. And I began to copy them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point, I thought maybe it was the clothes that made them successful, so I went out and bought some new clothes. But that wasn\u2019t it,\u201d Sam laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey looked like they were having a lot more fun than I was in my life, so I took up golf,\u201d Sam went on. \u201cThen I started spending time making music, which is my passion. Fun for me is music, so I put more music in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat else did you learn from these guys?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI found out that they were all in real estate,\u201d Sam responded. \u201cThey each had their own real estate brokerage. I learned that the vast majority of millionaires in America made their millions through owning their own businesses.<\/em> So I made a note of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed that all of them \u2013 to a man \u2013 knew what things cost. When one guy would talk about the great vacation he\u2019d just taken, one of the other guys would ask, \u2018What did that cost you?\u2019 and they guy always knew the answer. These men always knew how much stuff costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I began tracking my spending and writing down how much everything cost that I bought. I did it without understanding it or knowing what would happen. I was willing to mimic others without understanding why they did what they did. It was a blanket decision: If I do what they do, I will get what they got.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began to ask more questions of these men I was having breakfast with every day. At the time, I thought I might write a book about what I was learning, so I approached it like that. And I started to ask for referrals: \u2018Do you know any other successful guys I could talk to?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did they teach you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, one of the things I discovered in talking with these guys is that at one point, they all had nothing,\u201d<\/em> Sam answered. \u201cThat was a surprise. I would never have thought that, just looking at them. So that gave me hope. They had come from nothing and were now millionaires, so I figured that I could do it, too.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey taught me several things:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get a mentor.<\/strong> None of these guys knew how to be successful \u2013 they had learned it from others.<\/p>\n

Pray \u2026 a lot.<\/strong> Some of the men I interviewed met with others every morning for prayer. Some had a mastermind group. Prayer was an important part of their daily routine.<\/p>\n

Give to others.<\/strong> Without exception, all these guys talked about giving. One guy said he wished he had learned about giving much earlier in his career. He told me, \u2018You can\u2019t out-give God.\u2019 He\u2019d never lost by giving to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe richest guy in the group asked me one day, \u2018Do you know what it takes for me to give to someone? They had to ask me.\u2019 He was the richest guy I\u2019ve ever met, a millionaire many times over.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I began to experiment with giving. I believed that I no longer knew anything about how to make my life better \u2013 I acted solely on faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy best thinking had led me to homelessness, hopelessness, and despair.<\/em> These magnanimous men, and my support group, taught me to put aside my own thinking and act on faith instead<\/em>. I often had no idea why I was taking action, except I trusted the good people around me. I see now that I was acting my way to right thinking.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou learned so much from those men. Did you write the book? What did you do with all that learning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere came a point when I asked myself that same question,\u201d Sam replied. \u201cWhat am I going to do with what these guys are telling me?<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided that I couldn\u2019t just write a book. I had to do all the things they had taught me. I thought it would be disrespectful not to use it. So that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you give me an example?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrayer. Prior to meeting those men, prayer was just lip service to me,\u201d Sam said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know how to pray, really. I had to practice. The first time I did it I felt embarrassed. I was alone, but I still felt silly and embarrassed. But I did it anyway. I kept at it until it didn\u2019t feel awkward anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really when my life transformed. My life began to look more and more like theirs. And today, I\u2019m where they\u2019re at. In fact, I might be doing better than some of them,\u201d Sam chuckled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I finally understand what it was that I saw in those men \u2013 it was the peace that comes with prosperity. It was the absence of fear, the absence of stress.<\/em> Those men exuded extraordinary peace, extraordinary relaxation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a wonderful story, Sam. What final words of advice do you have for others who want to act their way to right thinking?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with the basics,\u201d Sam replied. \u201cTake care of yourself. Eat healthy, wear clean clothes, surround yourself with friends worth having, find or build a supportive community, go back to school if you need to. School was an unfinished piece in my life, so returning to college was important to my self-esteem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got more and more inspired by what I was learning and by the supportive community I had found. I wanted to write about this and eventually my I did. I wrote a book with my wife Suzanne, entitled ‘Wealth and Well-being.’<\/em> <\/a>It includes my own experiences with money, as well as Suzanne\u2019s. The book\u2019s message is: Self Care leads to Self Worth, which leads to Net Worth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\""Wealth<\/a>
“Wealth and Well-Being” by Sam Beasley and Suzanne Lorenz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn our country, we have a cultural belief that the money comes first \u2013 then it leads you to self-worth, which leads you to good self care. It\u2019s actually just the opposite<\/em> \u2013 and my life is a good example. I had to start with self-care because I had no self-worth and certainly no net worth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not easy to take care of yourself if your self-esteem is in the basement. But if you do it anyway, no matter how you feel about yourself, you\u2019ll find that self-care will build your feeling of self-worth. And the more you take care of yourself, the better you\u2019ll feel. You\u2019ll begin to have an experience of wealth in many areas of life \u2013 friendships, family, work, and health. Then the attaining and maintaining of net worth follows from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought of it like that,\u201d I said. \u201cBut it makes complete sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never thought of it like that because it goes against conventional thinking,\u201d Sam responded. \u201cMany people look at a rich person and say, \u2018Well, of course you can go to the gym and eat organic food and have a personal trainer \u2013 because you\u2019re rich.\u2019 But the truth is, self-care starts wherever you are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have a lot of money, you go for a walk instead of the gym; you exercise to a DVD in front of your TV instead of with a personal trainer; you buy salad stuff instead of burgers and fries. Good self-care doesn\u2019t require wealth \u2013 it leads to wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Sam. Thanks for sharing your story as well as what you learned from those wealthy men. You\u2019re an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sam's<\/a>
Sam’s and BJ’s new book is “Your Life is Your Prayer” (Mango Publishing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Beasley is a millionaire. Thirty years ago he was homeless. How did he take his life from one extreme to the other? I asked him to tell me his story. \u201cYou\u2019re a successful businessman today \u2013 you own commercial real estate and several businesses,\u201d I began. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine you ever being on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[159,162,111,160,110,20,163,161,164,158,126],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-give-to-others","tag-hope","tag-money","tag-philanthropy","tag-power-of-prayer","tag-prayer","tag-recovery","tag-serve-others","tag-success","tag-wealth","tag-your-life-is-your-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Homeless and Hopeless ... to Millionaire Entrepreneur - The Power of Positive Doing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sam Beasley is a millionaire. Thirty years ago he was homeless. 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