Scratch BeginningsToday I finished reading Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard. It was the first book that I’ve read in a long time that wasn’t a technical manual of sorts, and it was a great read.

Adam Shepard set out with nothing more than $25 and the clothes on his back in search of the American Dream. He had a goal of starting out with nothing, and within one year, having a car, cash in savings, and a furnished living arrangement. Ultimately, he set out and proved that if you want it, you can get it, if you’re willing to work for it.

You can read a great interview with Adam at GRS.

Personally, I thought this book was great mainly because it re-affirmed a belief that I have, and taught me new angles to that belief.

I’ve always believed that you can pull yourself up from any beginning. It’s just a matter of how hard you’re willing to work for it. When I was younger, all I needed was a car, and I felt I could conquer the world. I’d pick up jobs doing anything, flipping burgers, de-feathering and chopping up chickens, hauling furniture, waiting tables. At some points in my youth, with my first marriage, I remember holding down three jobs, catching 15 minute cat naps during breaks and between jobs. The opportunities are out there to get started if you wanted them, and I do believe it.

Adam showed that in Scratch Beginnings. When he started at the homeless shelter, he was surrounded by those afflicted with unemployment and poverty. But, miraculously, he was able to find work that paid. Not because he was white, not because he had a college degree (he doesn’t reveal that to anyone during his study). Not because he was young, or built. He found work because he did the one thing most people in the shelter wouldn’t do…

…He got his a$$ up and went to find work!

This attitude he has, the same attitude I hope to ingrain in myself, is what made him successful. Nothing else.

Scratch Beginnings also opened my eyes to a couple things I didn’t think of before though. Mainly, how does a single mom (or dad) with children do it, they can’t do exactly what Adam did. While I hold that the above attitude still reigns true, the single parent or the disabled vet, will have to work a bit harder at it. However, with the same attitude Adam espoused throughout his book, they too can become successful and pull themselves out of poverty.  At the least, give their family tree and bend in the right direction for future generations.

Adam, thanks for giving up some of your life to prove this point to people.  I hope your book does well enough to help you justify the time, and possibly get you started on another experiment of the same sorts, possibly next time in a more urban area to debunk some of the criticism.

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