American tycoon J.R. Simplot initially struggled to make ends meet by raising pigs. Later, when World War II broke out, he happened to learn that front-line combat units had a huge demand for dehydrated vegetables. Without hesitation, he took out a loan and purchased the two largest vegetable dehydration factories in the United States at the time, dedicating himself to supplying dehydrated potatoes to front-line troops. Two years later, a chemist in New York developed frozen French fries. At the time, many people looked down on this product and were skeptical of its potential. However, Simplot recognized it as a promising new military supply—surely soldiers resting in trenches would enjoy snacking on this treat. He decisively decided to mass-produce French fries, which, once supplied to front-line soldiers, became extremely popular.
Even more importantly, the product became an instant hit in the American market, earning him substantial profits. Soon after, Simplot noticed that during the French fry production process, only about half of each potato was used, while the remaining half was discarded as waste. He wondered: Why not find a way to reuse this leftover portion? So Simplot began mixing the leftover potato scraps with grains to make livestock feed. Using just the potato peels, he fed 150,000 military horses at the front lines.
Later, Simplot began pondering another idea: millions of vehicles in the front-line forces were carrying out heavy military logistics tasks every day, consuming enormous amounts of gasoline. If part of the gasoline could be replaced with alternative energy, the profit potential would be huge. Seizing this opportunity, he used potatoes to produce alcohol-based fuel additives. At the same time, Simplot used the sugar-rich wastewater generated during potato processing to irrigate farmland in the outskirts of Ohio, and collected the manure from horses fed on potato-based feed as raw material for biogas power plants. Thus, throughout WWII, the total value of Simplot’s potato-based product line exceeded one billion U.S. dollars, with profits reaching 600 million dollars. To this day, Simplot’s wealth still ranks among the top 300 richest individuals in the United States.
Recently, during the 60th-anniversary celebration of WWII’s victory, the U.S. government awarded him a pure gold Medal of Freedom, honoring his contributions to military supply efforts during the war. When reflecting on his entrepreneurial journey, the elderly man said: “I have always followed two simple yet clear principles: first, think big; second, never waste resources.”
Becoming a millionaire is actually quite simple—just think big and act small.
In *The Book of Tea*, written by Japanese author Okakura Kakuzō, there is an interesting story: the tea master Sen no Rikyū watched his son Shōan cleaning the garden. When his son finished the job, the tea master said it wasn’t clean enough and demanded he do it again. So Shōan spent another hour sweeping the garden. Then he said, “Father, there’s nothing left to do. The stone steps have been washed three times, the stone lanterns wiped repeatedly. The trees have been sprayed with water, the moss glistening with a fresh green. Not a single leaf or twig remains on the ground.” But the tea master rebuked him, “Fool! This is not the way to clean a garden. It’s just obsessive cleanliness.” Saying this, he walked into the garden, vigorously shook a tree, and caused a shower of golden and red leaves to fall to the ground. The tea master said, “Cleaning a garden isn’t just about cleanliness—it also requires beauty and naturalness.”
Happy work is actually quite simple: just make things more beautiful and more natural.
Could it be that you haven’t become a millionaire because your vision isn’t grand enough? Or because your actions aren’t concrete enough?
Details determine success or failure. Refine every step and perfect every task—then how could you still worry about not succeeding?
When planning your career and setting your vision, aim high. Then simply move forward steadily in that direction.
Not everyone will become a millionaire, not everyone will succeed. The reason isn’t the lack of lofty, correct goals, but rather the absence of a harmonious action plan with nature and society—either taking the wrong path, or failing to take solid steps forward.