3 Million Americans Got Rich From Boring Businesses. Here's How, with Owen Zidar & Eric Zwick

#761: Roughly 3 million Americans who own private businesses — car dealerships, beer distributors, dental practices — are collectively worth more than ten times the entire Forbes 400. Most of them didn't start rich, and you've probably never heard of a single one.
Economists Owen Zidar (Princeton) and Eric Zwick (University of Chicago Booth School of Business) spent more than a decade linking anonymized tax records to the people who own America's private businesses. They share what they found in their new book, The Everywhere Millionaire.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why owning all of a small business can rival owning a sliver of a startup
Which unglamorous industries quietly produce the most wealth
How to decide whether to buy an existing business or start your own
How retiring owners and seller financing (paying the owner back over time) open doors for buyers
How to run cheap experiments so no single failure wipes you out
When to double down on one business versus diversify
What the data says about whether you need to be born rich
If you're weighing a steady paycheck against owning something yourself, this conversation shows who actually takes that path, what it demands, and how often it pays off.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.
(02:20) Why 3 million business owners outweigh the Forbes 400
(06:13) The overlooked businesses behind America's quiet fortunes
(11:22) Why retiring owners could be your buying opportunity
(17:31) Own all of something small, not 2% of a unicorn
(21:36) Buy a business or start one?
(29:24) How to fail small without getting wiped out
(34:35) What yacht and private jet data revealed
(44:20) Most successful founders didn't grow up rich
(01:06:31) Double down or diversify once it works?
(01:18:51) Should you leave a high-paying job for this?
🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED
👉 Buy a retiring owner's business or build your own? Find the ownership path that fits your money and risk: https://affordanything.com/fiire
👉 The Everywhere Millionaire (book): https://link.amazon/B04y1xfaU
👉 The Everywhere Millionaire on Substack: https://everywheremillionaire.substack.com
👉 The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko: https://link.amazon/B01HtGgHg
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