It is often said that the American dream is completely unachievable by the poverty stricken members of society, but so many people prove that it absolutely can be achieved. JR Rivas is one of those exceptional people that against all odds, created a successful career for himself. JR lived most of his life in New York with his sister and single mother in a household whose annual income never exceeded $23,000. This took a huge toll on JR and at age 13, after his water was shut off for 6 months and he was forced to shower at friends houses, he made it his mission to escape poverty.
Once he graduated high school he realized that college would be a waste of time and effort so he immediately got a job in the life insurance business. This gig did not last long since he was not a very skilled salesman so he had to come up with a new plan which is when he decided to enroll in a class at H&rR Block that would teach him how to do taxes. It was a blessing in disguise that the class was canceled since he then had to get a job at Liberty Tax. After working for the season he used his savings to purchase the franchise, he was only 18 at the time. JR began making the building presentable and prepared it for the upcoming tax season. Within a couple of months he had a great looking building and by the end of the year he had grown the business by sixty percent. Liberty Tax took notice and invited him to New York city so that he could ring the closing bell at the Nasdaq live on CNBC.
JR’s success only snowballed from there. He purchased an additional 3 franchises and after owning them for a year and growing them by 17 percent he decided to sell them and move down south. After moving he purchased another office and was also offered a job at the Liberty Tax corporate office as a seasonal salesman. He enjoyed the experience of this job very much but he knew that he was meant to be an entrepreneur and not work at a corporate office. After leaving Liberty Tax he also sold his remaining office and after lots of support from the people around him, he started his podcast. He used his podcast to interview many different industry experts. Eventually he decided to move into creating social media ads for small businesses and he found great success in that field. His services were so successful that he turned it into a product so that specific clients could learn to create and manage their advertisements. After only a month of this new business he had already earned $30,000. JR was very glad to have this new life changing source of income, but he was even more glad that he was now able to help people transform their lives. JR came from very little, worked hard and created an amazing life for himself, he is a prime example of what hard work and dedication gets you.
