machlangsam: It wasn’t just houses. He invested in apartment buildings in Los Angeles as he made more money. Very smart move during those years.
BobSacramanto: He advertised it as “European brick laying” and charge significantly more than the other companies.
What-4: Man is quite smart. You look at him and see some big lug but there is a smart guy in there.
otakuman: The interesting thing is that his housebuilding entrepreneurship never took off until he started marketing it as European. And then he decided to charge twice, because the people in Hollywood cared more about him being European than the prices he gave. Hence, the last paragraph:
> In other words, Arnold Schwarzenegger is world-famous today, partly because he convinced a bunch of assholes in the 70’s that they should pay him double to do the same job as someone else just because he had a funny accent.
zumurrudthegreat: He would also argue with his fellow bricklayer in German in front of the clients, telling them that he is arguing for a lesser rate for them. That got em every time.
Icyrow: yeah, dude has earned his life. inb4 bill burr nothing but net quotes.
he worked his ass off and basically succeeded in 4+ completely different areas (bodybuilding, acting, politics, business)… I’m sure there’s more than that though.
Bob_Ross_was_an_OG: In his autobiography he tells a story where a woman’s chimney was about to fall over and a different contractor was going to charge her to knock it down. When he heard this, Arnold’s fellow bricklayer / bodybuilder / best friend Franco (as in Franco Columbo, who blew out a rubber bottle with his lungs) climbed up and wedged himself between the chimney and house, then used his sheer strength to push the topple the chimney over away from the house. Problem solved then and there and for free. Arnold picked up the bricks and later re-sold them to another customer for a good profit by saying they were vintage!
terminatorovkurac: And here I am, can’t even get lousy manual labor job. Fuck my life.
DarkPasta: But the he made his new movie Stolen Identity 3 because “sequels make millions of dollars at the box office!”.
Logan1304: Arnie was very smart. I saw him at a mall in Columbus Ohio of which he owned part of the mall and part of a restaurant
Minsc_and_Boo_: When he arrived, Arnold’s day involved 3 hours at the gym, bricklaying for a few hours, working on his mail order business for a few hours, then going to college at night.
The guy put in SERIOUS work as soon as his ass got to America, and never stopped since.
rethinkingat59: He also got a college degree while doing all this stuff and already being very successful. Coming to America barely speaking English and earning a degree within 10 years, while working full time at 4 to 5 businesses is not easy. Having the drive and motivation to do it when your success doesn’t depend on it is amazing.
(He made almost no prize money for bodybuilding championships)
ironmanmk42: “Remember when I said I’d charge you less. I lied.”
richardec: He couldnt fail if he tried
gregoryhyde: Dude is ridiculously ambitious. Gotta respect his drive and work ethic.
Sierra117: In light of the Apprentice TV show, I have to say….
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER IS LITERALLY WHAT DONALD TRUMP WISHES HE WAS. Self made man, in real estate, and in his prime was THE PINNACLE example of the male form.
NilbogResident1: [My hero](https://youtu.be/-xZQ0YZ7ls4)
interpreted: You buy dis hause. *NAU!!*
BlueRope01: [Bill Burr on Arnold ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ldIwEG9xQ-M)
mrbkkt1: IDK, in theory, if Schwarzenegger himself laid my driveway, and I had proof he did it, I’m guessing it would increase the value of my property…
MrBrandopolis: Is he a fucking God?
TheSunGoat: “he was originally wearing a shirt in this picture, but his chest ate it”
LurkerKurt: Wasn’t it selling supplements for body building how he made his first million?
DrewFlan: Pretty sure the whole youngest person to win Mr. Universe helped too.
iExraa: I thought he was just your everyday actor
ithinkoutloudtoo: He has some great videos on YouTube about motivation, his past, etc. He discusses this at length in one of them.
McGooby: I did not know that.
ThisIsMySubredditNow: Are people forgetting this man was also a six-time Mr Olympia before becoming an actor?!
CymbalKrash3: This is my favorite Arnold story. Around the three minute mark they talk about how he had to sneak out of the army bunks to compete in his first bodybuilding competition. But the whole thing is pretty good too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0vsFFdvabg
puckerbush: I never liked Schwarzenegger. He is a terrible “actor” and uber egotistical, but I admire his business acumen which is nothing short of remarkable, and how hard he worked to get to where he is today; he is one driven man.
SummonersWarCritz: TIL Arnold Schwarzenegger sold his childhood story to Nickelodeon for $425,000, where they turned it into the show Hey Arnold.
m1k3tv: Far less possible these days.
wakejedi: He also got rich selling mail order supplements.
RedderBarron: Arnie is actually an extremely inteligent man. He’s got brains to back up that brawn.
screenwriterjohn: Also apparently sabotaged chimneys to get more work.
Like a lot of self made millionaires, he cut corners.
Haccmantis: My grandfather gave Arnold his first job as a bricklayer in Germany.
Ksieba7: I really dislike our society’s hard on for success, to the point of justifying dishonesty and scamming people.
jrm2007: I think part of it was good timing — the market was hard to lose in if you bought during the 1970s and before.
Krellr: Did he deliver those houses himself?
Laerderol: I love immigrants
Prg3K: You can still go to Venice and see the brick wall that he and Franco Colombu (Mr. Olympia ‘76 ‘81) built by hand.
JXG88: I think k he made his first million selling primitive protein shakes and bodybuilding supplements via mail order.
globalwarninglabel: He has also said that to get business, he and Franco would take turns ringing the doorbell and pushing over the houses exterior chimney.
Calber4: Arnold Schwarzenegger has had more successful careers than fingers.
ChopinPianist: I don’t understand how he did this so quickly upon moving here, tho. I was told he had a mail-order catalogue business he built for ten years, so, I’m not sure which is true.
Grunvagr: Arnold has always been a crazy hard worker. Funny how crazy easy success always seems to follow.
Barackbenladen: WTF, this make bill burrs bit on him even more real, he succeeds at everything he does.
expletive-expletive: So was this before or after doing porn?