My grandpa, Alex Mulder. He is someone that inspires, motivates and helps others. He does it without even knowing it. He thinks and sees things differently than others, in a positive way. He was a troublemaker when he was younger. One time when he was about 15 years old, he was at school and found that the class he was in very boring, to the point where he was done with it and had to get out because he still had 3 hours of that class. He waited until the teacher walked out of the classroom and then he packed his stuff and went to the window of the room. He was on the second story of the building but it wasn’t very high. So he threw out his bag and went after it. The other kids in the class thought it was insane but also kind of funny. The teacher immediately realised it and asked where he had gone. My grandpa didn’t know who snitched on him but somebody did, so he had to go to the principle the next day.
He has many more stories of when he was younger, but let’s move on to his educational life. He dropped out of school when he was 13 and went to a special bakery school, he still likes making food at this age but not as much as he used to. He left the bakery school at age 16 and after that he didn’t go to school for 3 years. Then he went on to study economics and business. At age 25 he started his own company named Unique or USG. This company got jobs for people that fit with their education and their hobbies. This company was a big success in a short period of time, because about 20 years later, quote noticed him. Quote is a magazine and an online record book of the richest people in holland. His dream in life wasn’t to become rich, but to make his company a success, and I could quite say it did. After a lot of hard work for Unique he quit. He found that the company grew so big that there were so many rules that came with it, and he simply found it “boring”. I was very suprised the first time he told me this, because no one would actually just stop after a great success because they find it boring.
What he did next could surprise others, but because I know him, I wasn’t very surprised. He started a new company. This company was all about investment. He invested in other companies, people, buildings, musicals and other things. But the thing that got others surprised and not me was that it also became a success. He invested in some of the most successful musicals, in museums, theatres and companies that got the company very far. The reason he keeps getting success is because he think out of the box with everything he does. He is also just deadly motivated in his work and the things he loved, but he is very passionate about his things and everything he does is unusual but in a positive way. Like when it was his birthday, my parents where telling me to wish him a happy birthday. But because it was me, I forgot to tell him for about 2 weeks. But when I did, normal grandparents would be either a little upset or say that it’s okay. But my grandpa says it could be seen as even better. This would confuse normal people but I wasn’t surprised again. His reasoning is because if everyone says it on the same day, none of them stick out because so many people say it at the same time. But when I said it, it sticks out because I’m the only one at the moment saying it. He found it quite funny and creative that I did it a bit later. Now I know to do this every year.
I have many stories of him why he inspires others. He also motivates me to become a success, and I don’t mean a success like popular and a lot of money. I mean that I know who I am, and that I’m happy. I know my grandpa is because he is one of the most energetic and happy person I’ve met.
He is someone that just does and hope for the best, and until now it has worked out great for him. Once he got a call from this guy saying he was a bank director. My grandpa allowed for a meeting with him. When the day finally came, his secretary came running in saying he did not look like a bank director. Normally you would see a bank director in a suit, and with like a suitcase. But this guy came in wearing ripped jeans, short sleeved shirt and tattoos over his arms. My grandpa was directly sold. The bank director was rejected by other companies like 10 times but my grandpa wanted to invest in him. Because he was himself. That is something he found admiring about him. So my grandpa invested like a couple million to him. Now that man became a multi-millionaire and my grandpa made more than a 100 million profit and he is still getting more. The same happened with the musical Soldaat van Oranje. No one wanted to invest and help in the making of this musical, but my grandpa saw something in this musical others didn’t see. So he gave 100 million and he is still making profit from that too. These kind of actions in his company made him more successful, and his company more successful.
Matthias Mulder English Lesson 