What type business? You were juggling performing and something else?
I'm a mathematician. I modeled traffic. In fact, I helped take traffic modeling from the barbaric days to the age of computers.
No, I didn't tell them where to put traffic signs. I told 'em what would happen if they put a sign there. I did employ traffic engineers who would advise them and offer a complete solution.
We'd later expand to model pedestrian traffic - think an arena or a skyscraper needing to be able to allow safe exit in a fire.
The economy went to hell. They announced they'd be spending trillions of dollars - including billions and billions of dollars on infrastructure. That made traffic modeling really lucrative. I was offered a bunch of money to sell and I jumped on it.
I was still performing when I could. I used to live off my musicianship. I no longer needed to perform at that stage in my life, but I kept doing it because I enjoyed it.
You are really lucky, more like blessed.
I know you're thankful. Pretty neat stuff..
Oh, man... I am eternally grateful and I like to do my best to be humble about it. I truly was in the right place at the right time.
Even better, the economy was fucked and the stock market was in the dumps when I invested all that money. The market has been very, very good to me. It's not some particular skill, I just got lucky.
I did work hard. I often worked 80 hour weeks, even with a couple hundred employees. I figured it was my company, so I should work the most. I even paid people more than I was paying myself (but, I mean, I did have control of the bank accounts after all).
But, at the end of the day, the dude lugging concrete forms until he's 65 worked a hell of a lot harder than I did.
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