Entrepreneur Tony Hsieh came from an Asian-American family, and his parents had high expectations regarding his education. Therefore, he always received only the best grades in school, knew how to play several musical instruments, and diligently prepared for exams. Like any Asian family, his parents wanted Tony to study medicine or get a PhD. However, their son had other plans: he wanted to start his own business.

Tony was a creative child from an early age and wanted to find ways to make money. When he was nine years old, he had an idea of creating and selling his worm farm. His parents decided to support their son, so they bought him a special box for worms. Tony read a lot about what to feed them and how to care for them, but eventually, the worms all escaped. Although this failed attempt made Hsieh abandon the idea of worm farms, he didn't stop looking for ways to make money.

Later, Tony also tried selling lemonade, delivering newspapers, and even selling his own news-sheet. These part-time experiences made him realize he could make money with his ideas. In high school, Tony learned programming and started developing software for GDI. This job was time-consuming, so he understood that he couldn't combine it effectively with his schoolwork.

Tony resolved this issue by prioritizing the subjects that mattered most to him and attending those classes. At the same time, he took advantage of the opportunity to use his creativity in completing school assignments. For instance, he once wrote a sonnet in Morse code and got an outstanding grade.

After school, he applied to the most prestigious universities in the United States and was accepted everywhere. When Tony started studying at Harvard, he decided that, just like in high school, he would do as little work as possible and get the best results. This system worked well, and he managed to attend some of the classes and still got excellent grades. He spent his first years of college having fun and enjoying student life. However, Hsieh didn't lose sight of the opportunity to earn extra money in various ways, including by starting his newspaper again.