Sam Walton: The Walmart Billionaire

By Thomas Stewart

His mother instilled in him the value of hard work and being the best at everything that he could be. As a child, he sold milk from the cow that his family owned. By age 7, he was selling newspapers. Naturally gregarious, he had an enthusiastic demeanor. After graduating from college, he worked at a JCPenney store where he had first-hand exposure to customer service. Shortly thereafter, he purchased a Ben Franklin retail store and that led him to create Walmart. This is the story of the legendary Sam Walton. 

 

Sam Walton had one mission, to bring efficiency to whatever he did. He offered prices below his competitors, more varieties of products, and he revolutionized the retail shopping experience. He coined the term "associates" to refer to the cashiers and the retail staff and initiated a corporate profit-sharing scheme for them. 

 

He was also a natural leader and even saved a boy's life by jumping into the river without thinking about his own safety. In 1992, then-president George Bush conferred upon him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Come and learn about what made Sam Walton a unique leader and innovator.

 

Here's a preview of what you'll discover in this book:

• Sam Walton's early childhood, family life, and education
• Growing up in Oklahoma and experiencing the harsh realities 
• Helping out the family to make ends meet
• Being a star athlete and attending school
• His job at JCPenney that would define his career path
• Foray into retail and learning the trade 
• His challenges that led to the creation of Walmart
• Fighting to develop a better future against all odds
• Establishing Walmart as an enduring retail champion
• Deterioration health and demise
• The legacy that he left behind

….. And much more!

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: MG Publishing
• Release date: Dec 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393691488

Book preview

Sam Walton Biography

The Walmart Billionaire

Thomas Stewart

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Early Years

Family History

Sam Walton's Life

Sam's Military Service

Chapter 2: The First Investment

Sam Walton’s First Store

The Issues Sam Dealt With

Walton’s Plan

Chapter 3: The First Wal-Mart

How Sam Got His First Store

Walton’s Business Model

Values the Stores Focused On

Positioning

Never Stop Experimenting

Focus on Feelings

Being Frugal

The Culture of Wal-Mart

Sam Walton’s Business Rules

Sam’s Success

Bait buckets

Chapter 4: From One to Twenty-Four

A Name Change

New Adventures

Legal

Chapter 5: Making an American Dream

Stock Market Prices

The First Sam’s Club

Memberships

Wal-Mart Supercenter

Discount Stores

Neighborhood Market

Chapter 6: Philanthropic Work

The Wal-Mart Foundation

The Foundation Team

Sustainability

Creating the Right Opportunities

Building Stronger Communities

Sam’s Role in the Church

The Walton Family Foundation

The Mission and the Vision

Values

The Walton Children and the Walton Family Foundation

Chapter 7: Awards and Achievements

Forbes

The Presidential Medal of Freedom

Chapter 8: Sam Walton’s Personal Life and Legacy

Helen Walton

Samuel Robson (Rob) Walton

John Thomas Walton

James (Jim) Carr Walton

Alice Louise Walton

Sam’s Hobbies

Sam’s Death

Sam’s Legacy

Chapter 9: Walton Enterprises

Chapter 10: The Wal-Mart Logo

The Wal-Mart Smiley

The Wal-Mart Spark

Chapter 11: The Wal-Mart Museum

Chapter 12: Unique Facts About Sam Walton

Chapter 13: Wal-Mart After Sam

Wal-Mart Around the World

Wal-Mart Subsidiaries

Conclusion

Introduction

Sam Walton is widely known as the man that started Wal-Mart. He is known around the world because there are Wal-Mart stores globally. While Sam Walton is a man that should be looked at as a man of honor, because not only did he start the biggest company in the world, but he also served our country and did a lot of work to try and positively impact the lives of those around him.

Sam Walton once said: "You can’t just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing. To succeed, stay out in front of change."

So, that is precisely what Sam Walton did! He regularly changed his strategies to ensure that the customer was satisfied while making sure that his employees knew that he appreciated the work that they did.

Sam Walton was a man that many people adored and the work that he started continues today even with Wal-Mart evolving to keep up with modern times.

While there are countless other books on the market about Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, this book will focus on revealing what a wonderful man Sam Walton was and how important the work that he did in the military was in shaping the store that we all know today.

Chapter 1: The Early Years

Family History

Sam Walton was born Samuel Moore Walton on March 29, 1918  in Kingfisher, Oklahoma where he spent the first five years of his life. Because the family farm didn’t make enough money to feed the family, Thomas Walton, Samuel’s father left the farm and moved into farm mortgages. Thomas worked at the Walton Mortgage Company which was owned by his brother and was part of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Corporation. While working at his brother's company, Walton foreclosed on many farms during the Great Depression. This was not the work that Thomas wanted to do, but he had a family to take care of which is why he was willing to do whatever he needed to in order to make sure his family was fed and had a place to stay.

During the Great Depression, Samuel Walton and his family moved around small towns in Oklahoma and Missouri. The family now consisted of Samuel's father, Thomas, his mother, Nancy, and his little brother, James, who also goes by Bud. There were three years between Bud and Sam which helped them to be close. There were no other children born into the family which was another reason why Sam and Bud were so close to one another.

Sam Walton's Life

When Sam was in the eighth grade, the Walton’s were living in Shelbina, Missouri, and this is where Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the history of Missouri. It is because of this that later on in life, Sam Walton would receive the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award which was awarded to him by the Boy Scouts of America.

Because of the Great Depression, Sam did odd chores to help his family make ends meet. When the family moved to Columbia, Missouri, Sam Walton milked cows, bottled the extra milk, and would deliver it to various customers. Once he’d  complete the chore, he would then deliver the Columbia Daily Tribune. To add to all of that, Samuel Walton sold subscriptions to magazines. Between the three jobs, Sam Walton was able to help his father make ends meet so that they always had food on the table and a roof over their heads. It was here that Sam learned the true value of the dollar which he would carry with him his entire life. It was also a lesson that he imparted to his children.

Sam Walton was able to graduate high school in Columbia from David H Hickman high school where he was chosen as the most versatile boy in the school's yearbook.

He went to college in an attempt to discover a better way of supporting his family. Because Sam grew up in the Great Depression, he knew what it was like to go without and he did not want to have to put his family through that again. Not only his parents, but also his future family. Sam was a simple man, even at this young age, and it carried over into his adult life. Even though Sam Walton was able to go without and deal with the bare essentials, he never wanted his own children to have to deal with that.

Walton attended the University of Missouri as an ROTC cadet. While attending classes, Walton worked a variety of odd jobs that provided him with extra money for food for his family. At the University of Missouri, Walton joined the Zeta Phi fraternity while also joining QEBH, a secret society on campus. On top of that, he served as the president for