Some of the country’s top earners are building quiet empires — not on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, but in ordinary places.
“We call it the stealthy wealthy,” Owen Zidar, a Princeton economist who has studied the group with University of Chicago economist Eric Zwick, told The Wall Street Journal.
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Forget IPO parties — these fortunes were built on floor mats and carpet strippers, not stock tickers.
And it’s not just the founders who benefit. These unassuming companies are increasingly shaping America’s wealth landscape. Business ownership made up 34.9% of income for the top 1% in 2022 — up from 30.3% in 2014, according to Zidar and Zwick.
Big money from ‘boring’ businesses
You don’t need an MBA to make millions — just a knack for spotting a gap and filling it. Take Derek Olson, who found success by making machines that tear up flooring, such as the carpet in old elementary schools. With schools across the U.S. averaging seven miles of carpet each, Olson’s company stays busy, especially in the summer.
“So elementary schools basically need their floors redone almost every summer. It’s this niche industry that no one knows about and everybody needs,” he told The Wall Street Journal. Olson now earns enough to land in the top 1% of U.S. income earners — that’s at least $550,000 a year, not including capital gains.
Olson’s “boring” business has brought his family anything but a boring life. The family has two Range Rovers and month-long summer getaways in Europe — all funded by a midsize regional company most people would overlook.
The Olson family isn’t the only case where “boring” turned into big bucks.
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David MacNeil built his fortune selling car floor mats. Before founding WeatherTech, he worked a string of blue-collar jobs, dropped out of college and even sold luxury cars. But it wasn’t until a 1989 trip to Scotland that inspiration struck: after renting a car with superior rubber mats that kept mud and water contained, MacNeil realized the U.S. market was missing out.
Back home in Chicago, he cold-called the English manufacturer, struck a deal and took out a second mortgage to import a 20-foot shipping container of mats. He started selling them from his garage.
Today, WeatherTech employs 1,800 people in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and manufactures nearly all of its products in the U.S. MacNeil expects the company to pull in about $800 million in revenue this year. Like Olson, MacNeil saw value where others saw something forgettable, and turned it into a manufacturing empire.
The best business ideas are hiding in plain sight
If you want to follow in the footsteps of some of these millionaires, start by looking around and asking yourself: What’s a small but persistent headache in your day-to-day life? What annoys your family, your friends or your coworkers? Maybe it’s the way your dog’s leash tangles, or how long it takes to clean grout.
According to Smart Startups authors Catalina Daniels and James Sherman, those everyday gripes are ripe with potential.
“You search for things that are interesting, trends, things you’re passionate about, whatever — but no lightbulb moment,” Daniels told CNBC Make It. In other words, great ideas rarely arrive with fireworks.
And don’t overlook your own passions. If you’re a diehard sports fan, for example, zoom in on a specific sport you love. Is there a product, service or experience missing from the market? The sweet spot is where your interests and a real need intersect — that’s where niche ideas tend to thrive.
And while oversaturated markets like fashion, tech or content creation might feel like the obvious place to start, they’re also the most competitive. Instead, consider carving out your own lane in an overlooked niche. The goal isn’t to go viral — it’s to be valuable.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
