Mary Ann, if your comment is directed at me, then I addressed some of my privileges in other responses two months ago.

“Nothing” is relative in this context. Yes, I had a college degree. You can’t get a job working at an engineering consulting company without at least a BSc. I lived well below my means — a privilege I know — before taking the leap into self employment. The other big “nothing” that I had was no college debt. I addressed that directly a couple of months ago.

By “nothing” I mean I had no friends or family with connections. I didn’t start working for (for example) my father’s company and then take over when he retired. I didn’t start working for a friend of my mom’s. I had no friends and/or relatives working for my first customer to get me that first contract. Partially the opposite, but that is another story. I quit my job working for another company and had only my brains, my personal reputation and experience to get my company off the ground.

That’s what I meant by nothing. Hope that helps! :-)