You visit occasional clients in an ancient Yugo, digging through faded fast-food wrappers to find your hand tools. The wrappers come from your fast-food job, which you desperately need so you can pay your bills.

Still driving the Yugo, but you've ditched the burger-and-fries gig, thanks to a few steady clients. You've started an online B.S. Program (no, not that kind of BS; it's a four-year computer engineering degree).

Degree completed, decent car, nice office in a business park (good move—lots of potential clients right under your nose). You're also teaching continuing education computer classes at the local community college. Also, you just got married to another computer nerd—finally, someone who gets you.

You bought out your city's competitors, and now the computer repair pie is all yours. You recently started a Mac division, which makes sense because no one within a hundred miles knows how to fix those exotic things. You're running two shifts and still can't keep up.

Get-rich-quick franchise scheme, here we come. You've got franchisees in twenty cities, with fifteen more openings planned for this year. You've also become an in-demand public speaker, with regular gigs at computer trade shows and franchise conventions. Next year, you'll be taking your concept global.