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Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Forget self-improvement and business motivation books—it’s Twitter with the right guy and the right story that you need to get the job done. No need to thank me for saving you money.

Entrepreneur Ankith Harathi has recently shared a story about Richard Montañez, a man who started off as a janitor at a company you may or may not have heard of—Frito-Lay, part of PepsiCo—and rose to becoming the 20-Million-Dollar Man just because he took initiative and went to that one meeting.

It’s not every day that a janitor making $4 an hour becomes a multi-million dollar man

Image credits: ankithharathi

Entrepreneur Ankith Harahti shared the ‘rags to riches’ story of Richard Montañez that drew everyone’s attention

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

The story goes that Montañez came from a family of 14, could barely speak English, and couldn’t even dream about becoming anyone because there was no dream where he came from.

But one day, as he was working his $4/hour janitorial job, he found out the CEO of the company he worked for—where he was taking initiative, learning about more than just janitorial duties, and trying to be better overall—had announced to all of its hundreds of thousands of employees: “act like an owner.” Montañez did.

So, he asked for a meeting with the CEO. And he got it. And in that meeting, he shared an idea—an idea of how the company’s products, snacks, could be adapted just a little bit to appeal to a whole new audience, Latinos. Long story short, it was adding spice to the snacks. “Put that mop away,” said the CEO, “You’re coming with us.”

The story ended up being quite successful among Tweeters, getting over 200k likes

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: ankithharathi

This wasn’t secret knowledge, or anything—it just took one man to retell this story in a way that appealed to internauts, drew them in, and made for a pretty inspiring read.

The Twitter thread managed to get over 200,000 likes and almost 50,000 retweets. For many, this was quite an inspiring story, while it started a bit of a debate among others.

One person pointed out that this is quite a rare situation as most conglomerate CEOs don’t provide such opportunities, and it doesn’t work well in certain other cultural contexts, like that of India. But, regardless, people were still left amazed by the story and the hard work, dedication, and belief in oneself that Mr. Montañez exhibited.

Here’s how people reacted to the story

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: anniehic

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: uhuhnah

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: GarvSeSecular

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: Leafygreens16

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: whoissizzle

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: DhrumilBhatt14

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: Judithdemel

Guy Tweets Story Of Richard Montañez, Former Janitor Who’s Now A $20M Dollar Brand

Image credits: AdamBladeTaylor

What are your thoughts on this? Got some inspiring stories to share with the audience? Let us know in the comment section below!

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

Read less »

Some time ago, Robertas used to spend his days watching how deep the imprint in his chair will become as he wrote for Bored Panda. Wrote about pretty much everything under and beyond the sun. Not anymore, though. He's now probably playing Gwent or hosting Dungeons and Dragons adventures for those with an inclination for chaos.

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What do you think ?

POST

Luther von Wolfen 3 years ago

Stories like this are weapons. "This poor guy worked hard and succeeded - therefore everyone can do the same. If you're poor, it's your fault." In reality, only very few can be rich - capitalism is a pyramid scheme.

45points

Helen Haley 3 years ago

Agreed. These kind of occurrences are so rare and is about equivalent to winning the lottery, it might as well be urban myth. Education will only take you so far, a good idea will only take you so far, for the most part you have to know the right people. Good luck with that if you're from a lower caste. Don't fool yourself, america has castes.

10points

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Victoria Pitt 3 years ago

I hear you BUT if this guy thought like that and didn't take a chance, then he'd have gotten no where. Very few can be that rich but many can succeed with the right mindset.

6points

Lisa Chambers 3 years ago

Nah. Miracles happen every day. But they dont happen to anyone who believe what you just posted. That is a shame. It teaches you not to dream and more importantly not to try.

1point

ProfessionalTimeWaster 3 years ago

Capitalism atleast is a pyramid scheme. Communism is a pole scheme. Only friends and family of powerful people benefit who lie at the top and everyone else is at the bottom.

0points

Grumble O'Pug 3 years ago

as John Steinbeck said, there are no poor people, just millionaires down on their luck. so you have people buying into the welfare of the wealthy at their own expense.

-1point

n i k o 3 years ago

This is such a lovely story, and it is a slight shame that people have decided to turn it into another "capitalism vs socialism" argument. No matter your political ideology, we can all agree that Montañez deserves his new role, wholeheartedly. This story is also a good example for why we need a diverse work force to create products for a diverse audience. Anyhow, very heartwarming! And Montañez's grandfather's advice was actually amazing, whether your a janitor or a CEO of a big business, you do menial or mental work, take pride in what you do (and while you should always take pride in what you do, you can also think of ways to better yourself and look forward, as this man did!). All-around lovely story. And I have to agree, spicy Cheetos are the best!! :D

22points

Jos Tiguidou 3 years ago

Except this happened in the mid-80's. How many more stories like these have you heard since?? You can put any positive spin you want on this, but the fact is that reality is not reflective of it. You have way more disenfranchised people than people like Montanez. That last post from Adam Taylor IS America and perfectly encapsulates our reality.

2points

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backatya 3 years ago

That's exactly what it is a "story" of only a few not all.

0points

Rissie 3 years ago

They way it's told, it is told as a story to strive towards. And it's not. It's not this story that steers to this argument, it's the state the US (and the world) is in as the context that makes every story about that.

-1point

Clever Dog 3 years ago

I really must address the first comment on the tweet from anniehic " that's Capitalism, thats the American Dream, we cant let us be dragged into socialism." She like many Americans are confused about the difference between socialism and communism. This story is great and the "dream" is fantatsic for this guy but sadly the reality is that millions of Americans and incredibly poor, living in conditions that you would expect in the third world. Socialism is about a fairer society for all. You can still have a job and make money but government and your tax dollars support the poorest in society. If you are rich/white/privileged it is easy to not know/care about the shocking poverty in America. Socialism is not the evil Americans think it is , what is wrong with a fair society in which people dont love on the streets,the government helps everybody to get a job and they are supported until they do, nobody goes hungry and healthcare is free for all?

19points

Herb Coleman 3 years ago

It could also be argued that the CEO was practicing socialism when he told all employees to act like a CEO. Most capitalist companies do not do that. The biggest thing is that he listened, they both learned, and respected the man and didn't just give him a $500 bonus and steal his idea. That's what most capitalists would do.

0points

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Caroline Driver 3 years ago

First thing I thought, so many Americans say Socialism when they're thinking of Communism, have zero idea of the difference between the two, but probably wouldn't care even if they did. They've been brought up since birth with the 1940s/50s/60s idea of THE AMERICAN DREAM and they ain't gonna let go of that no matter how much the world moves on.

0points

Wim Cossement 3 years ago

It's even worse now, companies that made billions of profits over the last years now all stand in line begging for a bailout, if that isn't socialism... Instead of squeezing every dollar out of the company for the shareholders they've should have kept some of the money for a rainy day like they all say smart people would do.

0points

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Luther von Wolfen 3 years ago

45points

Helen Haley 3 years ago

10points

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Victoria Pitt 3 years ago

I hear you BUT if this guy thought like that and didn't take a chance, then he'd have gotten no where. Very few can be that rich but many can succeed with the right mindset.

6points

Lisa Chambers 3 years ago

Nah. Miracles happen every day. But they dont happen to anyone who believe what you just posted. That is a shame. It teaches you not to dream and more importantly not to try.

1point

ProfessionalTimeWaster 3 years ago

Capitalism atleast is a pyramid scheme. Communism is a pole scheme. Only friends and family of powerful people benefit who lie at the top and everyone else is at the bottom.

0points

Grumble O'Pug 3 years ago

as John Steinbeck said, there are no poor people, just millionaires down on their luck. so you have people buying into the welfare of the wealthy at their own expense.

-1point