Aaron's CEO: Do not let money define you
I have been successful in business for more than half of my life. It has given me plenty of time to consider what I want to do with my money and what I want to do with my life. It also means that half of my life was spent either being poor or struggling to build a business. The combination of financial struggle and financial success is at the root of how I see the world.
First, my world is one of knowing that having no money or having a lot of money has nothing to do with the quality of a person. There are great people who struggle from paycheck to paycheck. There are fairly unworthy people who are worth a lot of money. Money can be used to do a lot of good things or a lot of bad things.
My choice has been to try to do good things with much of my money and to do it for the people and places that mean the most to me personally. I try to help children because children sometimes aren't being helped by others and aren't able to help themselves. I also try to help my city because I truly love Atlanta. It is my home, and it has needs that someone has to step up and try to fill.
I'm a simple man and a straight-shooter. I don't give back to get credit but because it's the right thing to do. And I love Atlanta. The city has grown up a lot; it's a better place than 50 years ago because so many people cared about changing the city for the better.
I didn't intend to build a business in Atlanta but sometimes things just happen. I grew up in a blue-collar family with a dad who had a fourth-grade education and a mom who worked three jobs to put my brother and me through college. Back then, if you didn't have a well-known family name, then you were closed out of a lot of opportunities.
After joining the Navy and then graduating from the University of North Carolina, I got a great job traveling with Pfizer. My mom was offered the chance to own a 200-seat restaurant, but said she wouldn't do it unless I came back to Atlanta. That's when the entrepreneurial spirit came out in me. I knew I wouldn't be happy unless I had the chance to start and run my own business.
A partner and I started Aaron's in 1955 with $500 by renting three hundred chairs for 10 cents per day to auction houses. Retailers back then said it wouldn't work. Now Aaron's is publicly traded and has 1,575 stores across the nation. Our business helps people who can't afford the necessities of life, like a refrigerator, get the means to have these basics.
I see life in three segments: learning, building a business to acquire money, and giving back to others. Atlanta's been great to me and I want to contribute to make Atlanta a better city. I don't see it any other way.
I really believe it's important to help under-served children. When I was 10 years old, my mom had a job offer to run the dining room for a summer camp for privileged children. She took the job organizing three meals a day for 200 campers and 50 staffers only because the director, Fritz Orr, agreed that I could attend at no cost. That experience was the biggest thing that ever happened in my life.
My direction to my grown children now is to spend your money on helping children because they can't help themselves. Adults have made whatever choices have brought them to their point in life, but children need help.
It's hard to think that there are children who don't have a home or who are abused in a home. Recently my wife and I bought three houses in Demorest and updated them for homeless children. The program is called "Jacob's Ladder" in honor of my father, "Jake" Loudermilk.
You know, you have to be tough in business, but people might be surprised to know I'm more emotional than some think. I'm very fortunate to work in a company where these people are my friends. It's really all about doing what's right. And it makes me feel good that my dollars can help others.
