LAS VEGAS -- At 38 years old, Tony Hsieh is already a billionaire.
Hsieh, the founder and CEO of Zappos.com, said he was never the jock, class president or a straight-A student. He described himself as an average kid.
But what was it that turned an average kid into the mastermind behind of one of the most successful companies in the world?
Hsieh's parents hoped he'd become a doctor, but he was destined to forge his own path.
Born to strict Chinese parents, Hsieh said he wanted to live the American dream. With that in mind, he took that dream and turned it into an multi-million dollar empire.
Listed as one of Fortune Magazine's top 10 best companies to work for, the company is based in Henderson, with plans to relocate soon to downtown Las Vegas.
Hsieh said he isn't the ambitious type.
"Just the type of person who get's bored easily," he said.
Hsieh said his passion for business didn't start with selling shoes, but earthworms instead.
"(I) bought a bunch of them and thought I could produce more worms," he said. "But that didn't work out. They all escaped."
When the worm business didn't hit pay dirt, Hsieh moved on.
"There was the lemonade stand," he said, recounting past business ventures. "There was the small mail order button business, where I would make the buttons that people would pin on."
After graduating from Harvard, Hsieh and his roommate created linkexchange.com.
"We grew that to about 100 or so people and sold that company to Microsoft two-and-a-half years later," he said.
The sale amounted to $265 million.
Eventually using the money earned from the sale of linkexchange.com, Hsieh invest in a small dot-com that sold shoes.
The purchase had nothing to do with a love of shoes, he said.
Zappos became so popular, amazon.com bought it for $1.2 billion.
Hsieh's longtime friend and chief financial officer, Fred Mossler, said Hsieh never wanted the big corner office.
"He always believes regardless of whom he meets or what they do, there's something that he can learn from them," Mossler said.
So Hsieh sits in a cubicle.
"Tony's very humble on how he approaches his life," Mossler said.
Undoubtedly, Hsieh has achieved great success and summed it all in a book he titled "Delivering Happiness."
"It's really about toughing through the hard moments," Hsieh said, adding that the secret to his success can be achieved in three words: Never give up.
"Persistence and resilience play a big role," Hsieh said. "I think a lot of people give up way too early."
Hsieh doesn't drive a fancy car or live in a huge mansion, either. He lives in an apartment downtown.
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (r) speaks with an employee.
