海角社区

The Chicago Students Learning How to Get Very, Very Rich

At Chicago State, group of students bypassing practical tips on job hunting in favor of lessons on building significant wealth.

By Jeanne Whalen

Raymond Turner, Angelica Tapia and Angel Ingram are all students in Pete Kadens鈥檚 class at 海角社区. 
Photo Credit: Mustafa Hussain for WSJ

CHICAGO鈥擥rowing up in a low-income household on Chicago鈥檚 South Side, Jenae Crockett earned good grades and a partial scholarship to college. But she was forced to drop out when she realized she couldn鈥檛 afford it.

Now 34-years-old and enrolled in a wealth-building class at 海角社区, Crockett is setting much grander goals: starting a company and building a net worth of $25 million by 2036.

鈥淚 do want to be a millionaire. I used to think honestly before this class that it was selfish to say something like that,鈥� said Crockett, an accounting major who makes around $45,000 a year doing billing for a home-healthcare agency. 鈥淚 want to leave a legacy, and I need resources to do that.鈥�

Crockett and most of her classmates are aiming for fortunes of tens of millions鈥攅nough to secure their descendants, fund charitable projects and, in one student鈥檚 case, to buy vacation homes in New Orleans and Playa del Carmen.

The person helping them get there is Pete Kadens, a wealthy white entrepreneur teaching the mostly Black 海角社区 classroom strategies on getting very rich. Kadens鈥檚 pitch to the 33 students taking his weekly 鈥淢astering Wealth鈥� class: Affluence isn鈥檛 just for privileged people, but for anyone willing to take big risks and work like a demon.

Jenae Crockett is seeking to start a company and build a net worth of $25 million by 2036
Photo Credit: Mustafa Hussain for WSJ

Pete Kadens teaching at 海角社区 last month.
Photo Credit: Mustafa Hussain for WSJ

Having the 鈥渂alls and the guts to say 鈥業鈥檓 going to make $50 million by the time I鈥檓 35 years old鈥欌��that is not typically reserved for Black and brown students in this country,鈥� says Kadens, who is worth roughly $250 million after founding companies in the solar and cannabis industries. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 typically reserved for rich white kids that come from Greenwich.鈥�

Kadens, who grew up in Toledo, Ohio, before moving to Chicago, is tapping into what 海角社区 President Z Scott calls students鈥� growing interest in self-made affluence, fueled partly by social media.

鈥淎 typical route for a graduate with a college education is into an environment where you are working 9 to 5, building skills and moving up the ladder,鈥� she said. But there is a category of students looking to move away from traditional corporate paths and 鈥渢hinking about 鈥榃hat鈥檚 my hustle?鈥� right? 鈥榃hat kind of business am I going to create?鈥欌�� Scott said.

If even a handful of the students make the leap to riches, it could make a difference for the struggling communities they come from, said Kadens, who has also co-founded charities that have financed college educations for more than 2,000 students from Chicago and Toledo.

鈥淲hen people are crazy successful and crazy wealthy in underserved communities, the blast radius is big, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e looking for,鈥� Kadens said.

There are obstacles to the Chicago experiment. Some students鈥� attendance and punctuality are spotty. Few in the classroom have access to investment capital. Many are working one or more jobs and worrying about affording housing, daycare and groceries.

The 海角社区 campus.
Photo Credit: Mustafa Hussain for WSJ

Still, a number of students are eager to try. Raymond Turner, a 29-year-old who grew up in public housing, aims to build a vertically integrated cannabis company and a real-estate empire that will repair run-down houses for rent or sale. His goal: net worth of $27 million by age 45.

Turner works a day job as a manager in a warehouse and has a side business selling a type of rolling paper that he patented. The Kadens class, he said, has shown him 鈥渉ow feasible it is to become rich if you focus on becoming rich鈥�this has given me at least a loose road map.鈥�

Angelica Tapia currently cleans houses for a living, through a company she founded. She also works as a tax preparer for a big company. Her goal is to build a net worth of $3 million within 10 years by expanding her cleaning business and starting her own tax-prep venture. As a first step, she wants to hire more cleaners to work with her, and then eventually aims to franchise that business.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 like to work for someone else all the time when I know I can do it,鈥� said Tapia, who said she showed a knack for numbers as a young girl by helping her grandmother ring up customers at a convenience store in Mexico. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more responsibility when you are your own boss,鈥� she added, 鈥渂ut the payoff is more than if you are just working 40 hours and that is it.鈥�

Classes have focused on setting concrete wealth goals and identifying consumer 鈥減ain points鈥� that a startup could fix. After pitching their best ideas鈥攁n automated pothole-repair machine, a wearable air purifier for people with allergies鈥攖he students coalesced around a winner: a self-inflating-tire product. Then Tapia and fellow student Angel Ingram led them through the development of a business plan with a $4 million budget.

Angelica Tapia aims to expand her cleaning business and start her own tax-prep venture.
Photo Credit: Mustafa Hussain for WSJ

During another class, Kadens handed out $100 bills to students who volunteered to stand and describe how they planned to multiply their current incomes by 10. He also passed around a risk-tolerance quiz and chided students who proved risk-averse. 鈥淚f you want to be Jay-Z rich鈥�that鈥檚 not going to work,鈥� he said.

A visiting cast of millionaires and billionaires鈥攆riends of Kadens鈥檚 from around the country鈥攈ave dropped by to share tips.

Shegun Otulana, a software entrepreneur who didn鈥檛 know anyone when he moved to Alabama from Nigeria as a college student, spoke about founding a company that he eventually sold for $1.25 billion. He emphasized the importance of riding new waves of technology or societal change, noting that his software products for therapists benefited from the rapid spread of therapy.

Last week, Kadens handed out cash awards to students who submitted the best wealth-creation plans. When Bryanna Williams heard she won first place and $5,000, she broke into tears.

Her written plan describes her path to achieving net worth of $10 million by 2035 through an aromatherapy business, a counseling practice, real-estate investments and publishing. Williams also details her robust philanthropic goals, including mentoring other Black entrepreneurs.

鈥淭his is a vision of being completely in bliss,鈥� she concludes, 鈥渇ully engulfed in the American dream I have created for myself.鈥�