The path to success isn’t always a straightforward, uphill climb—even the most accomplished leaders, like Mike Bloomberg and Mark Cuban, were knocked down before making it big time. The same is true for Kenn Ricci, a serial American aviation businessman and chairman of private jet company Flexjet. After being put on leave from his first pilot job out of the Air Force, he turned a sticky situation into a billion-dollar fortune.
“I worked for [airline] Northwest Orient for a brief period of time. I get furloughed. Unemployed, back living with my parents,” Ricci told the Wall Street Journal in a recent interview when reminiscing on how he made his first $1 million.
But, instead of throwing in the towel, he saw a golden opportunity. Ricci took a contract pilot job at Professional Flight Crews, and one of the companies he flew for was private aviation company Corporate Wings. The budding businessman was intrigued when its owners put the business up for sale at $27,500 in 1981—and jumped on the opportunity to buy it.
Ricci scraped together a $27,000 loan, but still came up $500 short. So he picked up the phone and called his father for the rest—and that call would launch his career in entrepreneurship.
