Today I was shocked to hear that multi-millionaire Australian businessman, John Ilhan collapsed and died of a heart attack, aged 42, leaving behind a wife and four children.

He founded the Crazy John’s chain of mobile phone shops and was a philanthropist, heavily involved in charity and a dedicated family man. A larger than life, charismatic character, he was by all accounts a decent person who inspired respect and loyalty.

John Ilhan was not a man who came into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth. He had no family connections or seed capital. He was not a WASP. He was a Turkish immigrant who started at zero and built a $300 million business before the age of 40. What he had was his drive and entrepreneurial zeal – determination to succeed and be the best.

He personifies the spirit of free enterprise, where someone can make a success without being held back by their background. In that way, his life is an inspiration to us all.

I was disturbed to read some small minded comments from a few detractors following the announcement of his death. To some people, being successful and wealthy is a bad thing, although John Ilhan employed many people, built his business from scratch and gave large amounts of money to charity.

These comments are from those who have probably had more chances than John to make good, but haven’t ever achieved anything. All that they can do is some petty sniping against someone who can no longer defend themselves.

The detractors don’t employ anyone, they have never built something that has their soul in it, they have never given large amounts of money to help others. In fact, that type of person won’t even reach into their own pockets to give $2 when the Red Cross knocks on the door – they are all about talking how “someone” else should solve the world’s problems (particularly government). Yet they will jealously knock someone who has achieved more in his 42 years, than they ever will.

Well the world will remember John Ilhan and his drive and spirit, while the small minded wil continue to live out their lives of mediocrity. Let’s celebrate his life and remember the lessons of it.

Rest in Peace John Ilhan

Tags: john ilhan, millionaire, success, successful

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.