Banana is fruit that we can commonly see on grocery store’s shelf. We tend to just pick it up for breakfast or light snack. But there is a rags to riches stories behind the banana industry. Samuel Zemurray went from poor immigrant to the “king of banana industry. In The Fish That Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen, the story behind how Samuel built and amassed his insane wealth is revealed.
Samuel ’s father passed away when he was very young and had to make a living to support his family. Zemurray came to New York as a poor immigrant with no money and a big responsibility. He worked countless hours as a housecleaner and delivery boy to support his family. Zemurray was clearly not doing well financially in his life then. He then saw his first banana and realized he might be able to make money by selling bananas.
Zemurray took his money and headed to south were the banana market was located. The bananas at banana market was divided into two categories:the good to sell and the ripes. Ripes were the bananas that were sure to rot before arriving at market. It was considered “trash” to merchants as it was sure to rot before arriving at market. Not one merchant considered making a business around ripe bananas as it was sure to fail. But this is what caused Samuel Zemurray to go from a poor immigrant to the king of banana industry.
“Sam grew fixated on ripes, recognizing a product where others had seen only trash.” Although almost everyone considered the ripe bananas to be trash, Sam saw the opportunity waiting for him. This was a race between time as all of his bananas would rot in roughly 3 days. All the other merchants weren’t able to make it because they weren’t quick enough. Zemurray rushed and made sure he was on track with what he was doing and got to the city on time. Sure enough, he made his first banana profit of 40 dollars. Though it might not seem much, it was the start of his banana business.
It would have been so hard for me to put down all of the money I had on something that people consider to be “trash”. If you think about it, would you be willing to do what Zemurray did? Perhaps this is what sets most people from all the successful people. They are able to see opportunities in what other people consider impossible. Dietrich Mateschitz went to Japan and thought he might be able to tweak it a little to launch energy drinks. No one saw the Japanese energy drinks as an opportunity. But the one who did, is rewarded 13.6 billion dollars as he is the founder of RedBull. Back to the banana story, Samuel was able to see the opportunity and specialize in it which is one of the many things that set him apart from the rest of the crowd.
What truly differentiated Zemurray from all the other merchants at the cities? In my opinion, it would have to be Samuel’s mindset when going to sell these bananas. He could have been thinking with a fixed mindset like “No way I’m gonna make it on time” and he might have not made it. But Sam thought “I can be fast where others have been slow. I can hustle where others have been satisfied with the easy pickings of the trade.” This is what sets him apart from the rest of the merchants that weren’t able to make it. His belief in himself and willing to work a little harder than our competitors so we can get step by step ahead of them. Often times we consider obstacles in life to be impossible and close our opportunities that are waiting for us. But what we have to realize is that these challenges we overcome is what is actually going to grant us the good life that we want. No one would want to run around carrying bananas for three straight days just to make forty dollars. But those like Sam who are willing to do something that might require us to push ourselves are the ones that are able to get what we want. One of my favorite quotes, “To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want.” Samuel wanted to become rich and I’m sure everyone in this world feels the same way. But let’s take a moment to consider this: “Do we deserve to be rich?” Everyone might want to be rich, but you have to understand that people don’t deserve to be rich if they aren’t constantly improving themselves and finding new ways to earn their success. Success isn’t going to come to you by sitting on your couch watching TV all day and wishing you were rich. It will come if you make that decision to go that extra step in what you are doing, see from the perspective that people won’t be able to. If you want to live life the everyone wants, you have to be able to do things that everyone will be too lazy to do. But remember one thing, the moment you find yourself realizing that you are in this mindset, you will be so far from people competing with you that they will no longer be your competitors.
Reading amazing stories like these are my favorite books to read. Why? It resets my barometer of thinking and makes me go above and beyond what I thought was possible. If a Russian immigrant with no experience was able to build his empire, shouldn’t we be able to do that? Reading this book definitely put me in a resets my mindset and I would recommend everyone to read this book as everyone should be able to take something away from this rags to riches story. Besides, wouldn’t you want to know the story behind America’s most loved fruit?
Samuel ’s father passed away when he was very young and had to make a living to support his family. Zemurray came to New York as a poor immigrant with no money and a big responsibility. He worked countless hours as a housecleaner and delivery boy to support his family. Zemurray was clearly not doing well financially in his life then. He then saw his first banana and realized he might be able to make money by selling bananas.
Zemurray took his money and headed to south were the banana market was located. The bananas at banana market was divided into two categories:the good to sell and the ripes. Ripes were the bananas that were sure to rot before arriving at market. It was considered “trash” to merchants as it was sure to rot before arriving at market. Not one merchant considered making a business around ripe bananas as it was sure to fail. But this is what caused Samuel Zemurray to go from a poor immigrant to the king of banana industry.
“Sam grew fixated on ripes, recognizing a product where others had seen only trash.” Although almost everyone considered the ripe bananas to be trash, Sam saw the opportunity waiting for him. This was a race between time as all of his bananas would rot in roughly 3 days. All the other merchants weren’t able to make it because they weren’t quick enough. Zemurray rushed and made sure he was on track with what he was doing and got to the city on time. Sure enough, he made his first banana profit of 40 dollars. Though it might not seem much, it was the start of his banana business.
It would have been so hard for me to put down all of the money I had on something that people consider to be “trash”. If you think about it, would you be willing to do what Zemurray did? Perhaps this is what sets most people from all the successful people. They are able to see opportunities in what other people consider impossible. Dietrich Mateschitz went to Japan and thought he might be able to tweak it a little to launch energy drinks. No one saw the Japanese energy drinks as an opportunity. But the one who did, is rewarded 13.6 billion dollars as he is the founder of RedBull. Back to the banana story, Samuel was able to see the opportunity and specialize in it which is one of the many things that set him apart from the rest of the crowd.
What truly differentiated Zemurray from all the other merchants at the cities? In my opinion, it would have to be Samuel’s mindset when going to sell these bananas. He could have been thinking with a fixed mindset like “No way I’m gonna make it on time” and he might have not made it. But Sam thought “I can be fast where others have been slow. I can hustle where others have been satisfied with the easy pickings of the trade.” This is what sets him apart from the rest of the merchants that weren’t able to make it. His belief in himself and willing to work a little harder than our competitors so we can get step by step ahead of them. Often times we consider obstacles in life to be impossible and close our opportunities that are waiting for us. But what we have to realize is that these challenges we overcome is what is actually going to grant us the good life that we want. No one would want to run around carrying bananas for three straight days just to make forty dollars. But those like Sam who are willing to do something that might require us to push ourselves are the ones that are able to get what we want. One of my favorite quotes, “To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want.” Samuel wanted to become rich and I’m sure everyone in this world feels the same way. But let’s take a moment to consider this: “Do we deserve to be rich?” Everyone might want to be rich, but you have to understand that people don’t deserve to be rich if they aren’t constantly improving themselves and finding new ways to earn their success. Success isn’t going to come to you by sitting on your couch watching TV all day and wishing you were rich. It will come if you make that decision to go that extra step in what you are doing, see from the perspective that people won’t be able to. If you want to live life the everyone wants, you have to be able to do things that everyone will be too lazy to do. But remember one thing, the moment you find yourself realizing that you are in this mindset, you will be so far from people competing with you that they will no longer be your competitors.
Reading amazing stories like these are my favorite books to read. Why? It resets my barometer of thinking and makes me go above and beyond what I thought was possible. If a Russian immigrant with no experience was able to build his empire, shouldn’t we be able to do that? Reading this book definitely put me in a resets my mindset and I would recommend everyone to read this book as everyone should be able to take something away from this rags to riches story. Besides, wouldn’t you want to know the story behind America’s most loved fruit?