Roads to Riches
It’s not what you find, it’s what you find out.
—David Hurst Thomas
At the age of twenty in 1960, Thomas Seekins was a lone traveler from Boston who accepted situations as opportunities to move to new places and experiences into affluence. I met Thomas when we spent a week together in 2011 on an archaeological dig in central Arizona as part of a team of professional and avocational archaeologist working to explore the land before a traffic interchange was built. As we worked side by side over six days, Thomas shoveled back the layers of his own heritage and told me how he’d transformed a thin wallet into exceptional retirement wealth by age fifty-seven by letting things unfold around him.
On the road, Seekins moved with openness to the unknown and a need to be the best—whether doing tedious labor or continuing his education. There was a carelessness in him that could have cursed his success, but he used it to avoid struggles by going around obstacles rather than through them. He created momentum in a humble way that produced rewards larger than the Canadian Rockies. By doing good deeds without expectations of return, he built a reputation for fearless reliability.
His nontraditional ways made him a cult hero in his adopted town where he made his fortune, and he used that reputation and financial gain to seed success for others.
Read the complete success story in the book, The Quiet Rich: Ordinary People Reawakening an American Dream.
Kevin J. Palmer, Author
