J. Kale Flagg and Finding Gold

J. Kale Flagg

J. Kale Flagg likes to refer to Napoleon Hill’s 1937 book, “Think and Grow Rich,” as a seminal work of the personal-success genre. As J. Kale Flagg notes, some of Hill’s parables were tied into personal failures that are the result of giving up after a temporary defeat. The story of the gold mine is one of J. Kale Flagg’s favorites…

J. Kale Flagg retells one of Hill’s stories about a man who went to Colorado during the 19^th century Gold Rush. The man staked a claim and began toiling away with pick and shovel. After weeks of work, he uncovered a vein of ore, but didn’t have the equipment and technology to begin mining it in earnest. He went back to his home in Maryland to tell relatives and friends about his find, and raise financial backing for the equipment he needed.

The man went back to his mine, set up his machinery, and began drilling. The first strike was incredibly rich in gold, and it looked like he had hooked into one of the most fertile mines in the entire state. The man saw the payoff, notes J. Kale Flagg, followed by profits. Then the unexpected happened – the vein of ore apparently played out. The man drilled and dug, but to no avail. He found very little gold, and decided to call it quits.

He sold the equipment to a local junk dealer and took the train back to Maryland, but the junk dealer went on to meet with a mining engineer. According to the mine engineer’s calculations, the geology of the rock could well mean a shift in the direction of the vein…he predicted the vein could be found about three feet from where the man had stopped his drilling. And that’s exactly where it was located! The first man’s despair became the junk dealer’s fortune as he extracted millions of dollars’ worth of gold from the mine.

J. Kale Flagg’s takeaway from the story is that many people give up on their own dreams too easily and serve as their own worst enemy. J. Kale Flagg has seen what self-doubt and low self-esteem can do to wreck a person’s aspirations…Flagg puts the greatest emphasis on belief not only in one’s dreams, but in one’s self.

J. Kale Flagg is a successful businessman, serving as General Partner in the real estate investment firm American Redevelopment Fund, LP. In addition, J. Kale Flagg is involved with Array Asset Management, Stable Development and ReGenesis International. A Yale University graduate, J. Kale Flagg puts his experiences to work by helping to inspire others to achieve. J. Kale Flagg remarked, “People ask me about the money…the money is only part of it. I just love being able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I’m doing exactly what I want, and to the best of my abilities.”