“I like making my own money. I used some of the money I made this year to buy bikes for 20 boys and girls over Christmas. I was happy to give back and help them out. I think about how happy they are going to be when they open their bikes on Christmas morning. People tell me I can’t have my own business this young. But I am learning I can prove people wrong. I want to be a millionaire when I grow up. I am going to get there by working hard.”
Josh Cox, age 9

“I was working in corporate America running a trucking company and wanted more for me and my family. 19 months ago my wife and I started our own trucking company from ground zero. Since then, we have grown into four trucks. I want to show Josh that he doesn’t have to work for someone else. I am teaching him what I have learned.

I had to find something that he liked and we could make money doing it. So we went into the party rental business. We purchased three waterslides, a popcorn and snow cone machine, and a trailer. We put his face on a flyer and it went bananas from there. People loved it. Then we got Josh involved in the trucking company. He has his own truck with a driver that he pays every week.

My dad told me I always had a mind for business. When I was Josh’s age, I had dreams of being a respected businessman. I learned business by watching my dad and my grandfather balance checkbooks and paid bills.

I come from a family of preachers, including my grandmother, and I knew I had a calling on my life. I preached my first initial at age ten. The title of my sermon was ‘I’m not worried about my soul’. Thirty-something years later, I’m pastoring in the city of mobile. Empowerment Temple Full Gospel Church in the Tillman’s Corner area.

I try to pour all of this into my son. I teach Josh to give and it shall be given to you. We’ve done stuff like feeding homeless people since he was little. Josh made friends with a homeless guy named Mario. Josh would talk to him and make sure he was taken care of. He would feed him and put him in a motel. Mario called Josh his angel. Sometimes we open our church to the homeless to give them a warm place to stay.

My mom gave birth to four boys but gave me to my grandparents to raise. I started realizing it was a part of God’s plan and not a punishment. They raised me into the man God intended me to be. I survived it and I stay in touch with all of my family.

Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat to walk in an area that Peter didn’t think he could walk in. Going from employee to boss is a great feeling, but you have to get out of the boat. It doesn’t cost you anything to dream, but it can cost you everything if you don’t. I put everything on the line every day. I don’t have room for mistakes because my family is at stake. I have to do my best every day.

I give business classes for free to help people to set up their own businesses. I want to help those who have a desire to be an entrepreneur to get started. I am proud that my son is one of them. In life, if you want to succeed, you need the right people in your corner. We take the ‘T’ off of can’t and make it can.”

Anthony Cox