Magic Johnson has a $620 million empire, but it all started with his father’s trash hauling service

Magic Johnson changed his life’s perspective when his father, who worked at a trash hauling service, spoke about perfection.

For nearly two whole decades, Magic Johnson was the star of the city of Angels. Playing for the Los Angeles Lakers for the entire duration of his career, Earvin managed to evolve into one of the elite players in the league.

After the conclusion of an illustrious career, Johnson built up an impressive resume. A resume, that is good enough to consider the 6-foot-9 Laker as one of the greatest point guards in league history. His ridiculously long list of achievements included various accolades – 12 All-Star appearances, 10 All-NBA selections, 2 steal titles, 4 assists titles, 3 MVPs, 5 titles, and 3 Finals MVPs.

Over the course of his career, Magic managed to earn a staggering $39 million. Being the intelligent businessman he is, the former Michigan State Spartan managed to add hundreds of millions to his worth.

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There was merely one teaching that completely changed the Hall-Of-Famer’s perspective towards life, that helped him build this massive $620 million empire of his. Valuable teachings from his father.

Magic Johnson reveals the valuable teaching his father gave him

Magic, today, is one of the more well-to-do athletes. However, he once came from a pretty humble background. Talking about his parents’ job, Johnson said:

“My dad worked two jobs. [At] General Motors, as well as he had a trash hauling service,” Johnson said. “My mother worked for the local school in the cafeteria.”

There was one particular instance during Magic’s life when his father imparted him precious teaching. This teaching became one of the major reasons for Johnson’s success. Speaking about the pivotal experiences of his life, Magic said:

“One day, it was 17 degrees below zero. It was really cold, and as a young kid I couldn’t stand it. So I ran out of the truck, picked up some of the trash, then ran back in.”

“there’s trash stuck in the ice, son. If you do your life half way, that’s how you’ll practice basketball, that’s how you’ll do your homework—you’ll always be a person who doesn’t finish the job.”

“That just stung me to get out of the truck, pick up my shovel, and chop the ice around the barrel until I’d picked up all of the trash,” he says. “That day, that moment, changed my life. From that point on I did everything the right way, and I became a perfectionist.”

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