This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Did you know Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10? Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop. voted PC Mag's Reader's Choice Top Laptop brand for 2025.
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Stephen Ross is a Detroiter born and bred until his parents dragged him against his will midway through his freshman year of high school to Miami Beach, Florida. I hated it down there actually. and I kind of rebelled against my parents and I got into a little trouble. And as opposed to studying, I'd, you know, go out. playing the gambling a little bit and you know I mean I had a I had a f you know, everything but study, even though my parents really Try to be strict.
You know, my father. lectured all the time. as opposed because he was working and then he'd lecture me. I guess it didn't do any good, you know, but ultimately I guess it sunk it. I mean, I don't know.
I wanted to get out of there. I went to... My parents said, Well, if you're going to leave, you don't want to go to school here, you have to go to military school. Yeah, I guess.
So It spent about four days of military school and said, I'll go back to school, you know. And I mean, I talked to most of my friends. Probably my background was probably different than most because I'd never excelled early in life and I was I only got into college because they had to accept me because I had a standardized test that I scored well enough that the school had to take you and they flunked out two-thirds of the freshman class. They tell you, look on your left and look on your right. The person sitting next to you won't be here next year.
And uh And so, you know, you kind of, it's a wake-up call. But I also knew If I wanted something, we didn't, I wasn't going to get anything from my parents. I mean, I wasn't left anything and they had nothing to give me, you know.
So I knew what it was, you know, is either sink or swim. And then when I got to college, that's when I really kind of started to being able to do well at the University of Florida, then so I could transfer to Michigan. and then law school and then I got my master's in tax law. which I excelled in and is probably the best year of school I ever had. that I really found something I enjoyed.
I'd always get good marks. if I liked it, you know. If I didn't like the subject, I didn't do it very well. the confidence, I mean, you know, you have to first find your confidence. that you can succeed and do something well and excel.
to continue on. I mean, as they say, success breeds success. I mean, my teachers told my parents they were wasting their time sending me to college. Which is really kind of funny, right, when I look back at it now.
So, I mean, I look at myself, I was a late starter. in life because I'd probably I was probably the least likely to succeed in my high school class.
So you tell me how much teachers know.
So the environment in which you're brought up, I mean, even what your parents. as much as my parents emphasized that and I could s see things. It was really later that I really saw things a lot more clearly, you know? After getting his master's degree at NYU, Stephen went back to his hometown to work at an accounting firm. As a tax attorney.
Yeah. I was doing very well practicing law, and certain life is really kind of funny, it's kind of impulsive. I'm in my office one day. In fact, I remember it. I can still picture it.
It was June, I think it was June 7th or June 9th. Indiene. the night before Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. and I'd watch that at night. And that next day you're wondering in life, hey, you never know when it's over and thinking about that, you know.
And he was a yo relatively young guy. and the partner walks into my office and asks me, If I want to go to a seminar in New York, I said, you know what? And I even ever thought about it. I said, I want to go. I think I want to go to New York for good, as a matter of fact.
I'm quitting. I'm moving to New York. never entered my mind. It never went from my mind to, you know, I'm going to think about leaving, and I hadn't even thought about leaving. And it just came up.
I mean, life is so impulsive. I mean, sometimes we don't even know ourselves, you know, what's really, what's going on.
So he then brought in the senior partner and they Steve's quitting, he's leaving, he was going to New York, you know, and the guy said. I mean, Steve, you're doing great here. You're going to be a partner here and blah, blah, blah. but I got bored and I could see how I was tailing off in my mind. I was just ready for something and that sparked it.
without me even thinking about it, you know?
So a lot of things, you know, in life we think we're in control of, we're not necessarily in control of, and we really don't know. It takes something, it takes a spark. for something to happen. I've told my mother, you don't know anybody in New York. I said Hey, you know, I went there, I loved it.
And the story is if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Blah blah blah. And uh Off I went, you know? When I went to New York then, the firm called and made several appointments for me to help me. you know Lazard Freyr, Goldman Sachs, and what have you.
And I went and I interviewed. And then I saw a paper, this little article about Laird, which was a A new firm startup young guys. It was backed by the DuPonts. It was very waspy. There was no Jews in the whole firm.
They were doing a lot of really creative things, and you know, the head of the firm was like 37 and 34 and 31. And everybody said, you know, how can you consider it? You got a job at Lazard. That's the best deal house there is. And I took the job at Laird.
You know, I was sitting around the table when I went there and they. And they said to me, why'd you come here? I said, well, I really narrowed it down between Lazard and layered and everybody told me to go to It was hard, so I figured I had to come to Laird. You know, you gotta. And I was there for about a year and a half.
They didn't have any money and there was I was doing things a little different. and they didn't quite understand what I was doing. And They suggested maybe I Wouldn't be good there. And then two weeks after I left, nothing to do with my having left. They had a coup.
and the firm kind of fell apart. And a friend of mine got me a job at who was working at Bear Stearns. got me an interview and I was working on some creative deals. But I had the guy, the wrong guy I was working for. And so I had put together this deal.
when I was a laird putting together a company that they were taking public. It was my idea to put several things that he was doing into one company and take it public. I'd been at Bear Stearns about two or three weeks. And that's when they had the coup. And uh The guy called me and said, hey, I'd love to have Bear Stearns do this deal.
I have other firms, they're smaller firms than Bear Stearns. But would be certain to be interested. Met with his partner. Guys, it's great. They were located in California.
The partner said, I'll be in California next week. You know, I'll meet you and go through the stuff. made an appointment doesn't show up. Guy calls me. I go and tell him, oh, I got caught up in this other deal I was out there.
I'll be either there, make an appointment. Don't show up. Called me again. I told the guy, he said, you know. arrange the time and our call.
So twice that happened. He never called.
So a guy calls me, I said, hey, I would take it public. You got these other firms. I wouldn't wait. I haven't been here long enough. you know I've been here now, what, two months?
And I can't tell you what to do, you know. But if it were me. I'd go get the deal done, not wait for this guy to come out. It goes public. It's on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on the right column.
So it's lead article. And blah, blah, blah. And it went from 6 to 19 in the opening. And that day the partner all of a sudden walks into my office for the first time. Hey, whatever happened to that company, blah, blah, you know.
environmental systems, it was called. I said, um He's waiting for your phone call. Yeah. You know? And he didn't take that, obviously.
And then after that, when I'd be in meetings, he'd always putting me down and, you know. and all that. And I was doing a deal. when he approved a deal that I had brought in and worked on. And then someone asked him, well, who's going to work on it for us?
When the senior guy said, well, Steve is, he put it together and he knows it. He goes, Why don't we cops and Steve? And I said, So I got no copies of you.
Next morning I got a phone call. You know, I was fired. Did I quit or was I fired? Story's better to say that I got fired, right? But I knew that that night I knew I couldn't work here anymore before I had the meeting to get this deal approved.
I mean, I said If it gets approved, I'm thinking, and I was ready to quit. I knew even it got approved, I had to get out of there with this guy. I mean, here I'd left two jobs in really a six-month period of time.
So with that kind of resume I who's gonna hire me? And that's it. I started my company. And I had no money. and I wanted to stay in New York.
My mother lent me $10,000. to live on. and then the bootstrap for company. and never had an investor. For button X 30 years.
Every penny I ever earned, I put back in the company. and just grew the company. And then all of a sudden, you know, it's worth... A lot of money. But, you know, I mean, it's a nice story that's true.
And I really believe it. You know, when you're doing something and you're successful, You should believe in yourself. Who else can you trust more than yourself? And a great job by Robbie producing the piece, and a special thanks to Alex for finding this story. And it's a beauty.
The story of Steve Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, here on Our American Story. Uh Did you know Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10? Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop. Voted PC Mag's Reader's Choice Top Laptop brand for 2025. Thin and ultra lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere, and Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades.
Visit lgusa.com/slash iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PC Mag Reader's Choice used with permission. All rights reserved. This time of year, most of us are checking off our holiday gift lists. But identity thieves have lists too, and your personal information might be on them.
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Terms apply. This is Julie Nettleman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. Sunday mornings, I've got my game day ritual. Coffee. Lucky socks.
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Markups on pet food, not for my DOG, markups on tools, electronics, home goods, meds, not in my house. Anyway, it's awesome. Order now at shipped.com/slash 360 terms apply. Running my small business was like playing basketball five-on-one, and I was the one.
Now, QuickBooks gives me access to a team of AI agents and trusted experts for the assists I need. Nothing but now. Outdo it with Intuit QuickBooks. Feature availability varies by product. This is an iHeart podcast.
Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
