First A Dream

xiv, 399, [3] pages. Appendix. Index. Signed on fep. James L. "Jim" Clayton, Sr. (born 1934) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He founded Clayton Homes in 1966 and built it into the United States' largest producer and seller of manufactured housing, a publicly traded company that was sold to Berkshire Hathaway in 2003 for $1.7 billion. While a student, Clayton started an informal business of fixing and reselling used cars,[1] establishing a used-car business in 1956. That business grew into a group of Knoxville-area automobile dealerships operated by Jim Clayton and his brother Joe; Jim Clayton sold his interest in the business to Joe in 1981. Clayton branched into the mobile home business in 1966. Clayton published an autobiography, First a Dream (FSB Press, in 2002, cowritten with Bill Retherford. Reportedly, the book motivated Warren Buffett to buy Clayton's company. This is a captivating "rags to riches" story, as a young boy discovers during the Depression that hard work and sheer perseverance are the keys to living his dreams. First A Dream is filled with practical, easy-to-understand, no-nonsense business lessons that the entrepreneur can apply to his or her own life -- describing the qualities an effective leader must possess, the key methods to inspiring team members, and the development of culture and values that are critical to the success of a small business as well as a multibillion dollar conglomerate.…