Bill Farley – From A to Zrii
For many people, William F. Farley is the embodiment of the American Dream. Rising from humble beginnings through education, a strong work ethic and a willingness to take risks, he acquired a vast fortune.
Today he stands as an influential elder statesman of the American business community, a trusted advisor to CEOs and political leaders, with holdings in companies throughout North and South America.
William Farley’s story begins on October 10, 1942, when he was the first child born to his parents, John and Barbara Farley, a letter carrier with the post office and a secretary for a manufacturing company. It was in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, an old working class industrial town, that young Bill Farley grew up.
From the start his parents emphasized the basic values of honesty, integrity, caring for others, and not giving up. Bill Farley’s first job was as a newspaper delivery boy. It’s there that he learned two early business lessons: keep track of your money (in his case, mostly nickels) and always provide service with a smile.
Investing in Education
While Bill Farley’s family wasn’t wealthy or trained in high finance, they did recognize the value of investing in a first rate education for their son. That investment would provide the foundation for his future success. After he finished elementary school, they enrolled him in St. Rafael Academy, a private religious high school. At “St. Ray’s” Bill Farley won a medal for being an outstanding history student, studied piano, and discovered an affinity with the plain-spoken New England poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Frost.
Bill Farley also excelled at sports in high school as a member of the baseball team, swim team, and co-captain of the football team.
Teachers and students remember him as always being optimistic, supremely confident and an intense competitor. He earned a reputation as someone who could do just about anything he decided to do.
“I can remember him way back then saying ‘I’ll be a millionaire’,” recalls Dennis O’Brien, who co-captained the football team with Bill Farley.
While his athletic accomplishments earned him scholarship offers from Brown University and Boston College, he chose to accept the academic scholarship that came his way from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
At college, Bill Farley majored in government and lettered in baseball, football and swimming. During the summers he worked in a factory and as a lifeguard.
The summer factory job left a big impression. He saw many things that management could have done to make workers happy, but didn’t. Bill Farley made a mental note then and there that he wanted to work in a company where he respected the owner and felt the owner was on his side.
As for the lifeguard job, he didn’t get it … at first. Bill Farley knew he was highly qualified for the position, but thought he was passed over because he didn’t have political connections. Taking his grievance to the lifeguard hiring manager, Bill Farley said, “You’d hire me if I had the same last name as the governor.” Standing up for himself paid off. He was hired.
Selling Encyclopedias
After college graduation, Bill Farley set off to see the world, or at least part of it. He traveled across the United States, visited Mexico, but his money ran out in California. Spotting a classified ad for a salesman, Bill Farley embarked on a new career selling Collier’s Encyclopedia door to door. Success proved elusive. Since it was a commission sales job, if he didn’t sell he didn’t eat. An unending chorus of “no” and doors slammed in his face led him to turn in his resignation, but his supervisor wouldn’t accept it. Instead the supervisor coached him and urged him to read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
Bill Farley would later say that Think and Grow Rich changed his life. Within a short time he became a top salesman in his office, then district sales manager, and earned a six-figure income that would pay for his law degree. He had cracked the money making code.
Law School and Leveraged Buy-outs
When he entered Boston College Law School in 1966, Bill Farley arrived on campus in a new car, fresh off his success on the West Coast. The same combination of confidence, goal setting, focused attention and hard work propelled him through law school. Upon graduation he accepted a position in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of NL Industries, a large chemical, petroleum and metals manufacturer, in New York.
Next Bill Farley joined Lehman Brothers, an investment banking firm, and saw up-close how business buy-outs were structured, how deals were financed, and what elements qualified a business as a desirable target.
Striking Out On His Own
Bill Farley became skilled at analyzing and arranging acquisitions of companies largely for the benefit of his employer. Could he apply those same skills in acquiring a business for himself? He would soon find out the answer.
Farley set his sights on Anaheim Citrus Products, a California company that made pectin (a thickener used in jams, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products) from citrus peel. The company had its problems: poor management and out-dated equipment. But Bill Farley liked the upside potential. Despite its shortcomings, Anaheim Citrus Products still generated a profit, and it impressively controlled 40% of the pectin market in the United States.
But before he could operate the company more efficiently, he needed a loan to buy Anaheim Citrus Products.
“I was trying to borrow $1.7 million dollars,” Bill Farley recalls. “Now at the time it was difficult because I only had $25,000, plus or minus, depending on who I had dated the night before. But I was confident that the company would be successful if I could raise the money. I remember going to a banker in Los Angeles, and I said, ‘Mr. Banker, I don’t know too much about the citrus industry, I’ve never run a company on my own before, and I don’t really have a net worth, but I would like to borrow $1.7 million from you.’”
The skeptical banker walked over to a window and said, “Mr. Farley, I want to make one thing very clear. If I jump out this window there’s a far greater probability of my falling up than of this bank lending you one dime.”
Refining his loan pitch for the subsequent bankers he visited, Bill Farley raised the $1.7 million in about six months and bought the company in 1976. That was the beginning of Farley Industries.
Within two years he doubled the sales of Anaheim Citrus Products to $10 million annually.
More, More, More
From there Bill Farley purchased several diversified companies, including Coal Creek Mining, Health Foods, Inc., NL Industries Metals Group, and Northwest Industries (parent corporation of Fruit of the Loom). As Chairman and CEO of Fruit of the Loom from 1984 to 1999, Bill Farley showed himself to be a visionary leader, transforming the $500 million domestic underwear company into a $2.5 billion worldwide family clothing powerhouse.
By the end of the 1990s Farley Industries employed more than 60,000 people and boasted sales of over $5 billion.
"A willingness to take risks is probably a major reason for my success today. Many people could be as successful as I am, or more so, but for whatever reason they are unable to take steps that appear personally or financially risky," says Bill Farley.
He’s went on to acquired Body Wise International, a nutritional supplement company based in Irvine, California, and Unity Group, a private security force and defense contractor based in Washington, DC, and a railroad in Brazil.
Today Farley’s holding company is headquartered in the Sears Tower in Chicago.
Zrii – Largest Launch in History
If anyone expected Bill Farley to slow down when most are thinking retirement, they would be very wrong. His passion for health and wellness is a lifelong mission.
In fact, Bill Farley’s latest company Zrii, holds the honor of being the largest launch in history of direct marketing with 4,500 independent executives and $5 million in sales the first month it opened for business.
Zrii is an MLM or network marketing business opportunity. Bill Farley is the Founder and CEO of Zrii.
Zrii, which carries an endorsement from the Chopra Center, markets a line of all-natural Ayurvedic health products, including the well acclaimed amalaki fruit, and offer a multi-level marketing business opportunity.
“I believe that everybody has unique gifts and talents, and Zrii assists people in maximizing their opportunities,” says Bill Farley. “There’s a way for you to be rewarded for your efforts.”
Worthy Causes
When he’s not working, Bill Farley and his wife Shelley are actively involved in raising money and making charitable contributions for causes that can change the quality of people’s lives. The Farley Foundation provides money for educational, medical and cultural programs. The Zrii Foundation supports childrens charities worlwide.
And today when Bill Farley returns to his old high school and college it’s to donate a new science building or athletic facility, exuding the same optimism and confidence that took him from a small mill town to the most spectacular cities in the world.
