Marcus Hiles is a wine lover, and he is also a highly successful business person who has had an interesting history. He grew up in humble surroundings in the inner city where his father was a minister. The family did not enjoy many luxuries. In fact, he says that “It was a big day to have donuts or ice cream.” This individual is exemplary if you are interested in the bootstrapping phenomenon. Though his family was not well off financially, they apparently understood the value of a good education.
He got a masters degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and he also graduated from Rice University. Rice is in Houston, and he decided to embark on a business career in the Lone Star State. When he was just 28 years of age, he founded the company that we now know as Western Rim Property Services. He had very limited resources at that time, and in the early days, he sometimes had difficulty making the payroll. Everything that he earned went back into the business, and he drew from his childhood experiences to get by with very little so that his business could expand.
As the business began to prosper, Marcus Hiles started to develop an interest in wine. To be successful in business, networking is very important. It can be difficult to get “face time” with powerful decision-makers, but many high-level people enjoy fine wine. Marcus Hiles developed an enviable wine collection, and he had the ability to use wine tasting events for networking purposes.
