At the age of four, Fred Smith's old man dropped dead of a massive heart attack, leaving the young boy to grow up fatherless. Worst yet, Smith suffered from calcium deficiency disease. This weakened his bones, preventing him from playing sports, rough housing and enjoying physical activities. Longing for freedom, Smith developed an obsession with aviation. At the age of fifteen, he learned how to fly.

Later on, while in college, Smith had an idea for an overnight delivery system that relied heavily on airplanes. He wrote up a term paper. Turned it into his professor. His idea was dismissed as being impossible. Upon graduation, Smith joined the Marines, where he served two tours in Vietnam as a pilot. Smith probably didn’t realize it at the time but the Marines would provide him a masterclass in supply chains, transportation and logistics.

After the war, he decided to give the “impossible” business idea he outlined on his term paper a whirl. He invested his $4 million inheritance in starting FedEx. Eventually, Smith found himself with just $5,000 of that inheritance left. He went to Las Vegas, sat down at the Black Jack table and turned that $5,000 into $27,000. It was just enough dough to keep FedEx alive and breathing until Smith could go out and raise more capital.

Today, FedEx has a market cap of about $65 Billion. It’s where you go if ‘it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight’. Smiths life is worthy of a motion picture.