Greg Berry has. He grew up in a lower-middle class working neighborhood in Connecticut, a place that Money magazine calls the worst place to live in America. The median income in his zip code was just over $30,000 a year. But mansions filled his dreams.
“Where I grew up, we didn’t have many examples of achievement or wealth, but my brother would take me around to go look at mansions about 30 miles from where we lived, and that was our goal – we wanted to live in one of those houses some day,” Berry said.
He grew more and more fascinated by the huge houses just a few miles from his home. Who lived behind those polished gates and swam in those luxury pools? What did they do and how did they earn enough money to get there?
His curiosity grew into a full-time hobby.
“I found myself constantly online, checking out more and more big houses, and finding out information about who lived there and what their careers looked like,” Berry said. “Eventually I thought, I should streamline this process so other people can be inspired as well.”
Eventually Berry decided to create his own website called Mansion Map, which launched Thursday, that aggregates location and biographical information of millionaires and billionaires around the country, so other curious dreamers can learn about who these successful people are — and ultimately find inspiration to chase their own dreams.
“These people with these huge mansions do all different kinds of work, and are from all different backgrounds, and it inspires you and gives you ideas for your own business,” he said.
Creepy? Greed-focused? There will be critics. But Berry says good-intentioned internet roamers are out there, and he’s convinced Mansion Map can harness curiosity to fuel real dreams.
“This person just built a $38 Million house, and he has the same 24 hours in the same day as you, so it’s how are you going to do it; you can do it through manufacturing, through sales, retail, tech … there are endless possibilities and once you know it’s out there and your awareness is expanded, you could easily start visualizing success and seeing opportunities that weren’t there before when you were living in a non-abundant mindset.”
Privacy concerns are valid; some owners likely won’t appreciate having their information out there in an even easier way to access. But Berry insists all the information his site uses is already available on the web.
“We’re just streamlining it … we’re trying to respect people’s privacy, but we’re also trying to inspire people out there like me, who derive motivation from other people’s wealth.”
Check out TheBlaze’s exclusive interview with Mansion Map Founder Greg Berry, below:
