Who started out poor and succeeded?

[Evan Cruz]

  If you are reading this and started investing in real estate with $20000 or less, or with no personal money down, and had massive success in your real estate investing career, what did you do exactly to start out and how were you able to identify the best properties that generated great returns and forced appreciation? If the person that I listed above is not reading this, who do you know  that has done this successfully starting with $20000 or less or no personal money down?

[Anthony Gayden]

@Evan Cruz

I don't know if I fit your bill since real estate wasn't the sole path I took to a better future. 

It was 2006 and I was 27 years old and seriously overweight. I had worked for 7 years as a full-time overnight stocker at Wal-mart. I made a little over $20,000 a year. Not only that, but I lived in what others would consider "the hood", a rough part of Kansas City, KS (near 24th and State Ave. for those from the area). I was seriously in debt, trying to live some kind of fake lifestyle where it looked like I had money even though I didn't. The result was that I had tens of thousands in debt.

To make a long story short, I lost the weight, started a new much higher paying career that I enjoy, paid off all my debts, moved across the country, and discovered real estate investing.

I count myself as a success because being successful is not something that solely has to do with your net worth. You have to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually changed in order to achieve true success. I made the changes in my life that enabled me the opportunity to invest in real estate.