Unschooled woman who did better than fortune 500 CEOs

"If I have to choose between any of the fortune 500 CEOs, any of the top Ivey league school talent, and Mrs B, I will go for Mrs B (Rose Blumkin)."

- said Warren Buffett on multiple occasions.

Rose Blumkin (Mrs B) never went to any school.

Mr Buffett frequently tells the story of Mrs B, founder of Nebraska Furniture Mart, the largest of its kind in North America.

The story goes like this, in his own words.

"There was a woman (Russian Jew immigrant) who landed in Seattle in 1917 (From Russia, present day from Belarus, as per Wikipedia).

She couldn't speak a word of English.

She had a tag around her neck and the tag said "Fort Dodge Iowa" (as destination).

The Red Cross, got her to Fort Dodge, where she was reunited with her husband who had come to the country, a couple of years earlier.

And she lived in Fort Dodge for two years. And as she put it, she felt like a dummy.

She couldn't pick up the language, she couldn't learn a word.

And so she decided that she and her husband shall move to Omaha.

They came to Omaha in 1919.

And there she found a small colony of Russian Jews. So she started feeling more at home.

And then as her oldest daughter, Frances went to school, when she would come home, Frances would teach her mother (Mrs B) the words she learned in school that day.

And this woman Rose Blumkin, spent 20 years saving money, bringing first her siblings over to America and then her mother and father.

She sold used clothing to do it.

She had four children during this period.

And by 1937, after 20 years, she'd saved $2,500. It was everything she had in the world.

She went to Chicago and she bought what she could - some furniture.

Her dream had always been to open a furniture store.

And this woman, who had never gone to school one day in her life.

But with the spirit (of) having a dream and working to accomplish that dream, she built a business which she sold the me (Warren Buffett) in 1983 for $60 million, approximately and which did a billion and a half dollars worth of business last year (2015 or 2016).

And the fourth generation (of Mrs B) is working in that business.

This woman, while she lived, she worked for me until she was 103.

And then she retired and she died the next year, which is a lesson to all of Berkshire's managers that premature retirement. You can't tell what's going to happen. (on a lighter note)

She could not read or write. And she went into a furniture business.

And she didn't bring anything unique in furniture.

But she brought a determination to succeed. She knew she could outwork anyone else.

She knew she cared about her customers. She worked at very low, gross margins. But she built this incredible business."

Mrs B used to say - If you have the lowest price, they will find you at the bottom of a river.

While no one can deny the benefits of a formal education, that is not a showstopper if you are determined enough to do what you wish to do.