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published: Friday, February 11, 2011
A tale to inspire others
A tale to inspire others
Paul Burdziakowski
Special to the South Lake Press
Steve Wright can remember the days of surviving on biscuits and syrup for food, seeing the temptations of drugs, alcohol and gangs all around him, going through laborious dead-end jobs, and even facing prison time.
At the time, he wondered if hard luck was all he had to look forward to his whole life. Fortunately, a sudden jolt of inspiration and determination turned Wright's life around and gave him hope for a brighter future.
"When I as young, I felt that life was very hard, and I became discouraged at times when I saw how my family was struggling," Wright said. "I didn't give up, and I always thought that I could come out of this and make something of myself."
Wright grew up in rural Luray, S.C. At the time, his father's job did not bring in enough income to support the family of six. So at age 8, Wright and his three siblings moved 15 miles away to the city of Varnville to live with his grandma.
Life was not much easier there as Wright had to adjust to the more hectic lifestyle of the city.
In his grandma's home, there wasn't always enough food to go around, and outside the house were negative influences and stumbling blocks all around.
Wright credits his grandma with steering him away from those bad influences, and teaching him to be responsible and respectable. He also received mentoring and support from a school physical education teacher, who kept him busy after school with sports and odd jobs.
Wright wanted to have some spending money so he could help his grandma at home with the bills, so he entered the work force at an early age.
He wasn't choosy about the kind of work he did. At the age of 13, he was picking and loading watermelons for $5 an hour. At 17, he worked as a porter at Burger King.
Miraculously, Wright was able to survive the precarious environment that he lived in and he graduated from high school.
Soon after graduating, Wright added a second job doing construction work at a nearby resort. He worked two jobs for three years until moving to Virginia with a friend.
In Virginia, he did carpentry work for five years. With the economy getting bad, the carpentry work was growing scarce, so he moved back home where he got a job loading trucks with watermelons.
It was not long after this that Wright moved to Minneola with the hopes of finding better work. He ended up working two jobs again -- in construction in the morning and at McDonald's in the evening.
As he struggled to survive, Wright made the unfortunate mistake of getting caught using drugs, and wound up at the Lake County Correctional Facility in Tavares.
"I was so disappointed in myself because here I was trying to escape the bad environment that I came from only to find myself in trouble in a good environment," Wright said.
While serving his four-month sentence in prison, Wright began reading numerous books by successful authors. Seeing the achievement of these authors inspired him to write down his own life story.
After spending hours putting his ideas down on paper, Wright discovered that he had the ability to write. He vowed that once he got his freedom, he would turn his life around and use this newly discovered talent to open doors of opportunity.
Once he got out of prison, Wright spent a long time researching various avenues to make money. He eventually came up with the idea trying his hand at selling clothes.
"I had a choice, I could sit around and do nothing with no money in my pocket, or I could put something into existence and make money," Wright said.
Wright bought 12 pair of sneakers from a company in China. After selling all the shoes fairly quickly and making a small profit, he realized the sales business might offer him a better future.
He soon became more ambitious, buying larger quantities of clothes and advertising his merchandise by distributing flyers.
Wright ventured out to local neighborhoods, and even went to local flea markets to sell his clothing. It wasn't long before he started to gain recognition for selling quality clothes at a cheap price.
As his business began to take off, Wright continued to work on his book. The novel he began writing features a boy growing up on the streets, and it's based on his own life.
Eventually, Wright was able to finish and find a publisher who agreed to publish his story.
Wright then focused his energies on marketing his book. He attended local book fairs, book signings and made his book available online. His effort paid off as he was able to sell 60 copies of his book.
Wright continues to have lofty goals. He has a blueprint for creating his own clothing line. He plans on renting or buying his own shop. And he believes he can pen other novels as well.
"We all have tough situations that happen throughout our life, but it is up to us whether we dwell in that or go out and do something about it," said Wright. "It's like writing a book. You can't just tell people about it, you need to write it down and show it."
