Billionaires Secrets: How the Super Rich Made It Big

Sept. 27, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- As kids, America's richest entrepreneurs dreamed of curing patients, flying jets, writing plays and bagging base hits for the Chicago Cubs. Instead, they started hundreds of companies, employed hundreds of thousands of people and bagged $1.06 trillion.

Click here to read the secrets of the self-made from Forbes.com.

We also coaxed them into sharing their thoughts on how to invest $100,000 right now (a few said put it with them); luck's contribution to their success (95 percent, says Kenny Troutt, founder of Excel Communications); and the pitfalls of leaving too much to the kids (money man Richard Rainwater says $50 million is too much, while $1 billion each works for supermarket and oil titan John Catsimatidis).

They even told us with whom they would most want to share a cocktail -- two said "me."

Sure, there was some ducking and weaving. When asked for the next billion-dollar idea waiting to be exploited, Donald Trump replied, "If I knew, I wouldn't tell." Logging tycoon Tim Blixeth's answer: "Stay tuned to 2008!"

One message came through loud and clear, though: It's good to be the guy in charge -- and the money's nice too.

The top eight spots on the Forbes 400 belong to entrepreneurs, as opposed to well-paid corporate soldiers or the silver-spoon set. The combined net worth of the top eight hit $237 billion, or 15 percent of the whole pie. And of the entire list, 270 (or 68 percent) are self-made, up from 261 last year. Average net worth of all self-made members: $3.9 billion.

While their conquests run the gamut, from real estate and oil to media and technology, these billionaire-entrepreneurs also have a few things in common, according to our 20-question survey.

A healthy chunk admitted that they are impatient to a fault. (Patience might be a virtue, but it might not make you rich.) As for guilty pleasures, food was especially delicious -- Sandy Weill, former head of Citigroup, goes for chocolate sorbet and pizza with jalapeños.