One snowy January evening, I arrived to O’Hare Airport after a long week of travel. My car had already been shipped to Phoenix. As a result, I caught a cab from the airport back to our south suburban home. I have always enjoyed having conversations with taxi cab drivers. Since a majority of the cab drivers I have encountered are immigrants from other nations, I always engage in discussions about their home countries, inquire about what brought them to America, and their views on their new American life. On this particular evening, I simply asked the cabbie “How are you doing tonight?” He told me that he was very, very sad. He had come to the United States from Romania two years prior and felt he had nothing to show for it. He had come to live the American dream, but had no savings, a small studio apartment in a bad area, and was living paycheck to paycheck. Some dream! When I asked what he had done to make his dreams a reality, he told me that he was driving his cab at night when the activity was at its peak but was unable to find a decent job during the day. As we began to explore his interests, skills, and background, I learned that he was exceptionally handy and used to fix up homes while living in Romania. He claimed that he would love to be able to purchase some homes and flip them, but did not have the cash to invest in properties. We began to brainstorm a number of options where he could utilize his skill set without needing a significant up-front investment. Based on the ideas we generated in just a twenty minute ride, we had devised a plan for him to create a small business that would cater to landlords who had difficulty dealing with maintenance issues. He would work with his brother to offer emergency repair services to landlords, establishing a contract with them on a retainer basis. The landlord would give up a small percentage of the monthly rent to guarantee maintenance at any time of day at reasonable rates. After a brief discussion on the ease of setting up a business, creating business cards, and marketing the business through various channels, the cabbie began to thank me profusely for giving him hope and reshaping his dreams.
The United States has been referred to as being the land of opportunity. There are an unlimited number of things one can do in this country to earn money.