In this short motivational video, Evan Carmichael answers a newsletter reader’s question about why many successful entrepreneurs come from poor or middle‑income families. He acknowledges that many well‑known founders started with little resources, which can teach survival skills and grit, but argues that one’s family background should not be used as an excuse or a predictor of future success. Carmichael urges viewers to stop worrying about factors outside their control and instead concentrate on actionable, controllable aspects of their business—acquiring customers, generating revenue, and building a team. He emphasizes personal responsibility, the importance of asking the right growth‑focused questions, and invites the audience to engage through likes, comments, and future questions.
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Focus on the things that you can change in your business, not the things that are outside of your control. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe that hungry entrepreneurs deserve help, and today I'm answering a question from one of my newsletter readers, George, who wrote in to say, "Why do most entrepreneurs come from poor or middle-income families? Thank you." So George, you know what is true. If you look at the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, we've profiled a lot of them on my website, most of them started from nothing. They didn't start coming from a rich family, didn't have huge investors in their business. They came from nothing, and when you are forced to do everything yourself, when you learn the skills of survival, that helps you build a successful company. When you don't have a huge safety net behind you, when you have tons of investors, it helps teach you the skills to run a successful business. You have to cut your teeth and you have to grind it out to get to that point of success. Survival and beyond. And if you start off with nothing, you are forced to learn those skills. So it's true that most of these successful famous entrepreneurs that you look at came from very poor or moderate families. But my question is, so what? Like, who cares? This will not have an impact on your business. Whatever family you were born into, that's the family. If you grew up in a middle-class family or a poor family or a rich family, you can't change that. And you don't want any of those things to be an excuse for you not to go out and give it your best. No matter what odds you have stacked against you or for you, you still have to go out and do the work. If you can't change your situation, you can't change things like that, then don't worry about it. Focus on the things that will help you grow. Instead of thinking about, will I have success or not because of what family I come from? Which has no impact. Think about things like, how am I going to get my next customer? How am I going to bring money into my business? How am I going to grow? How am I going to bring on a team? That's all helpful, super valuable, really important stuff that you need to focus on. Make sure you're asking yourself the right questions, and don't use any of those things as an excuse for not giving it your best. You don't want to say, oh, I didn't come from a rich family, so I'm not going to have success as an entrepreneur. You make your own odds. Don't worry about the things that are outside your control. Focus on the things that you can change. Focus on those things and your business will grow. Good luck, George. For those of you watching, if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. And I want to hear from you. Please leave a comment below. I love seeing those come in every day, and I want to hear what's going on with your business. If there's a question I can ask, leave it in the comment section. Thanks guys, I'll see you in the next episode.
