This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories.

And today, all show long, we're celebrating Labor Day, stories about

work, stories about first jobs, and stories about the people who create work, who create jobs.

They don't just come from nowhere. Up next, the story from Jim Keys. Jim was the CEO of 7-Eleven

and Blockbuster, but he certainly didn't start out that way.

Let's get into this story.

Take it away, Jim.

So, wow, it's a, it's an interesting,

I think an interesting American tale.

In many ways, I guess you could say

I'm the classic definition of the American dream

because I grew up in a challenging environment, too many ways, I guess you could say I'm the classic definition of the American dream. Because I grew up in a challenging environment.

Too many children, not enough money, three-room house, six children, two parents all squeezed into this one,

building literally with no running water and no modern conveniences like a

thermostat. We had a wood burning stove that would stop burning in the middle of

the night if someone didn't get up to replenish the wood and it would get so cold

in the house that literally the galvanized buckets that we used for water, we had an

outdoor pump would freeze over.

And we'd have to break the ice to get to the water in the morning

if it wasn't cold enough to freeze the whole bucket during the night.

Cleanest freshest water in the world.

...