The Million Dollar Box of Apples

I would like to tell you a story, a true story about my life and what I learned about the business world from one of the smartest men I ever had the pleasure of knowing in my life. His name was Richard Alosio, he came to this country almost penniless from Naples, Italy. When I met him, I was a junior in high school and he had just been hired on "His first real American job" as he said to me one day. Most in the school would make fun and laugh cheap meridia him because of his broken Illinois Lemon Laws and lack of any formal education what so ever but, little did they know. I struck up a conversation with him one day as he was reading an old English book that someone had thrown in the trash. Before you know it I was teaching him about what I knew of proper English grammar in exchange for him telling me what Naples and Rome was like, and of course some Italian lessons thrown in there for good measure. Every time I saw him, he would say "What did you learn today?" and then he would say, "Tell me." The reason I remember this so well is for the 28 years we remained good friends, he would say these same words to me, every time we talked.

We had become friends through out my high school years and upon my graduation, as I was handed my diploma I saw my Mom and Dad and there was also Richard in a suit and tie, and he looked so proud you would have thought he was my father as he beamed with pride and shook my hand, and said, "What did you learn today?" Tell me!" He told me that he had quit his janitors job with the school and he was going to be his own boss and own his own business. I shook his hand and told him I was so happy for him! Then I asked him what business are you going into? He said, apples! I have a beautiful box of apples! Now, I know he saw the expression on my face when he said, Don't worry about me, I'm going to make lots of money in my business! What I did not know was he had built himself a kiosk cart and painted it beautifully and had a huge umbrella on it which opened up, also brightly colored. From this cart in a local produce market, he sold candied apples on a stick. He told me that he made over 100% profit on every apple he sold during that summer. He was selling caramel, butter scotch and the standard red candied apples, and in a short amount of time, he was selling 2 boxes of apples a day at a buck a peice.

I applied for college and soon I was off to further my education. One day I saw Richard and I told him that I would be going back to school full time. I first remember the look he gave me, it was similar to the one I had given him when he told me about his apple business. He asked me, "What are you going to do with this extra learning?" I explained to him that I would be able to get a higher paying position with a degree. That's when he said, "So, your going to spend money you have to borrow to get a higher paying job, right?" I said, yes. "Why do you want a job that costs you money you don't have, that someone else can take away from you anytime they feel like. Why not work hard for yourself and then you have something you own that costs you nothing but some hard work? I listened and remembered his words, but off to college I went just the same.

By the end of my second year of college, Richard bought the fruit and vegetable stand on the same corner that he sold his candied apples on, and of course, his cart sat proudly where it had stood when he started. I worked for him on the weekends to help pay for college expenses, and he paid me very well. He was pulling in $1100-1200 a week from his produce stand and another $50-60 a day from his candied apple cart. He now had a brand new refrigerated truck and was having a beautiful house being built across the street from the beach. What I thought was most ironic was, a couple of the jerks in high school who had made fun of him, we're working for him to build his house, yet he was always nicer to them than they were to him. By the time I graduated form college, he also bought a hot dog cart to place in front of his fruit and vegetable stand, on the other side of where his apple cart was. This was bringing in $700-800 per week into his little empire.

I applied for and got my good paying position with Chevron Oil and I worked hard and made the grade and advanced in position and by my 7th year, Richard had bought the store across the street from his fruit and vegetable stand and had it fixed up as a coffee and sandwich shop that had tables inside and outside of it, which was named "Ricky's Cafe" and in a couple of month's this place was booming! By my 10th year, my salary was about a third, at best of what Richard was doing a week, and I had something Richard didn't have, a boss who was almost impossible to please above me, and people below me looking for my position at the drop of the hat. I had a nice car, a nice house, and a little money in the bank, but this is all I had to show for all those years of very hard and often times, impossible work.

It was my 15th year with Chevron and this is when Richard told me he was selling off everything he had worked for and going to take it easy for awhile. He sold everything, including his house which I thought was kind of odd, but he called me one day and said he was planning a trip to Naples, Italy where he was born, and he wanted me to go with him, and visit Naples and Rome and that he had everything paid for, all I had to do was go. I needed a vacation and we went and I saw everything I ever wanted to see and learn about Naples and Rome, Italy. The one thing I did learn was that Richard was raised from birth by the nuns at an orphanage in Naples. When we had returned, Richard had leased a nice condo and was living there. It was late into my 16th year with Chevron that I received a call from St. Mary's church that Richard had passed away. He never told me that he had cancer and was given a short time to live by his doctors. He gave St. Mary's orphanage over a million dollars in his last will and testament. To my son, he left $35,000 in a trust fund for him when he is 18 years old, and to me he left the best of all. He left me a letter which simply said, "What did you learn today?" "Tell me." and along with it, his apple cart, which I have in my garage to this day. On his tomb stone I had written; Richard Anthony Alosio born Oct 14, 1939 Died Sept 8, 1998 "My Brother" and underneath this I had a carved a picture of an apple.

I went back to Chevron Oil only to hand in my resignation a week later. I moved to Florida and started my life over as an entrepreneur. I have never looked back, nor have been happier with my life since that time. It is now that I ask you, the reader, "What did you learn today?" Tell me."

"Work at Home" Opportunity

With life insurance rate quotes rise in technology and most importantly the advent of computers, "work at home" cure for impotence become popular. Computers and the internet allow people to be in touch with their employers constantly throughout the day without needing to be at the work place. With the use of internet cameras an individual can be a part of a business conference without leaving his residence.

Many jobs are easy to do from home. Salesmen often find it easier to do their work via the internet from their home computers. Writers can do almost all of their work at home. Music teachers and tutors often "work at home" by having their students come to them. More and more women are opening daycare centers in their homes. Sportswriters and journalists often e-mail their articles to their employers after they have completed their writing in the comfort of their own house.

An increasing number of companies are creating "work at home" opportunities. This has been especially helpful for people with young children. The opportunity to do "work at home" has eliminated the need for expensive childcare for some families, and has provided the ability for single parents to be professionals.

Additionally "work at home" has made it easier for employees who need to be home, for childbearing or illness, limit their absence from the job.

"Work at home" will probably become more and more prevalent with time, especially because the cost of gas is rising. This is one way that employers and employees are trying to minimize their expenses.

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