A man who grew up in poverty on the "wrong side of town" has revealed how he has become a self-made millionaire with a collection of supercars. Reco Jefferson remembers his mum, Lesa, working two jobs just to put food on the table and as he got older, the youngster fell in with a bad crowd, turning to late night car meets in rough neighbourhoods.
Reco, 36, said: "My mum was a single parent and she worked so hard to feed us. Where we were was one of the toughest places in the city.
"There were always fights, a lot of drugs and police were constantly being called."
Soon, Reco himself got into trouble with the police with the real life Fast And The Furious teen racking up over 30 driving offences. It wasn't until a judge threatened to put him behind bars that he decided to change his life – joining the Air Force and later going on to get a degree in IT.
But Reco knew he was destined for bigger things. When his son was born in July 2007 while Reco was in the military, he decided to start a side-hustle to make more cash, but never expected that it would take off the way it did.
He said: “My decision to start a side-hustle was the best thing I ever did. When I was in the Air Force I realised the £18,800 salary would not be enough to survive with a newborn, so I began selling things on Craigslist and eBay.
“But back then it was more of a hobby.It was only after I went to college and studied computer science that I began looking into drop shipping and Amazon automation.
“It grew really quickly.”
Armed with the knowledge to build a digital business, Reco lunged into the drop shipping, making up to £5.5k a year on top of his salary. As time went on, this swiftly rose to between £12,200 to £24.5k per month.
And what did the real life Dominic Toretto do with the cash? Buy cars, of course. The dad also spoiled his son and mum Lesa rotten.
Before quitting his job in IT, Reco would often show up in his fancy vehicles at work, driving colleagues green with envy. He said: “I could never have imagined this would be my life when I was a kid.
“I was the only guy arriving at work in a supercar because of what I was earning on top. Eventually my boss told me that if I was making that much money, I should just go and do that full-time.
"So I quit."
Now making over £4m a year, Reco feels like he is "living a dream", miles away from his turbulent childhood. The car lover has six supercars and has just ordered another four, with a total collection worth £2.3m.
He has also held on to his car from college, a Mitsubishi Evo 10. As for his family life, mum Lesa was at first sceptical about all the money her son was making.
He said: “She didn't really believe I was making so much money. Until this day she knows her son is a millionaire, but she has absolutely no concept of the amount of money I actually make.
“When I first started making a decent amount of money, I paid to get her kitchen re-modelled. It's the one thing she's always wanted for as long as I can remember.
“We never had much growing up so she never could afford a really nice kitchen. It's probably the one thing she's most proud of.
“Then after that I paid to have her C4 Corvette engine swapped. It was inherited from my late uncle and needed some serious work. It barely ran and just sat there.
“So I started the restoration process. And now I ordered her dream car this Christmas, a brand new Cadillac Escalade.
“She is the one who supported me through everything. I've helped my brothers and sisters out with money here and there too."
Reco is not in touch with his father and has not seen him since he was 10 years old. In addition to his online business, Reco also owns a barber shop, has an extensive property portfolio that focuses on low-income housing to help people who are in a similar situation to the one Reco was in when he was growing up.
He also runs a model management agency called Helix Media. Reco added: “I feel incredibly blessed.
"My life now is so different to where I came from, some days I feel like I’m living a dream.”
