My entrepreneurial journey began at age 17, when I sold souvenirs at the Saratoga Springs Horse Racetrack. During the one-month racing season, I grew this business to $300,000 giving me my first glimpse into the world of the wealthy. The track was a playground to some of America’s first oligarchs like the Vanderbilts and the Whitneys.
This experience shaped my life goal that I formed at the age of 18: to make $1,000,000. I thought that would create certain happiness. I was young enough to believe money alone could do it. The more I made, the more I understood it could not. The goal was too small, and happiness was never in the money. I found it instead in love and purpose.
I founded Esler Companies in 2004 with the belief that there was a better way to run a business where people could have lifelong careers. This door and window replacement company began with a single location and over the next two decades it grew into the largest affiliate of our parent company, Renewal by Andersen, employing over 3,800 teammates across 15 states.
Esler Companies was successful for many reasons, but I believe my conscious decision to build the company around a single core value—love—and my corresponding faith in trickle-down economics were the main ones. As my taxes were cut by administration after administration, I put my savings back into my business and paid my employees well above market wages. Because of it, they and their families didn’t just survive; they thrived. They were also more loyal and dedicated to the company’s success, which made the business’ bottom line thrive too. It really was a virtuous cycle and a “win” for everyone.
In 2019, after selling the majority of the company, I had a bit of a rude awakening. With my free time, I began studying the state of the country and our economy. Some of the statistics I came across stopped me cold. In 1965, CEOs were paid 21 times as much as the typical worker, whereas today they’re paid over 280 times more. The first Forbes 400 list in 1982 counted 13 billionaires, yet today we have close to 1,000. We have minted a trillionaire at the same time that half the country’s workforce doesn’t earn enough to afford basic essentials.
These startling statistics are incontrovertible proof that trickle-down economics has failed to pan out in America. I know from my own professional experience that the concept is not impossible: wealth can flow from employers to employees to ultimately grow the whole economy. But what I failed to realize is that it hinges entirely on the voluntary generosity of employers. There are no laws or rules requiring employers to share tax savings or profits with their workers as I did with mine; we essentially just assume they will do so because they have good consciences and because it’s in their long-term best interest. Judging by the extreme levels of income and wealth inequality we’re witnessing in America today, it’s obvious that many of my fellow business owners and executives do not have proper consciences or good business acumen. They have kept the spoils of their companies all to themselves, and millions of families are suffering on account of their selfishness.
This had been happening under my nose throughout my entire adult life. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be rich, as people need financial incentives to start new businesses and create new products and services that benefit everyone. I just realized that wealth and the material comforts that came with it left a deeper need unfulfilled.
That’s why I co-founded the The Esler Family Foundation with my wife Jeanne in 2019. It is dedicated to healing minds and strengthening spirits through work in mental health, youth opportunity, and economic mobility. We are a “sunset foundation” that believes in giving while we are living.
While I am dedicated to my work with my foundation, this is my real calling: investing my time, money, and influence to unrig our economy’s rules and reverse our country’s extreme concentration of wealth.
That’s why I’m so glad to have stumbled across Patriotic Millionaires. The group’s simple three-pronged mission; establishing fairness in our tax code, guaranteeing living wages for all workers, and limiting the influence of money in politics; holds the key to getting our country on a better, more sustainable course for all. I can’t do this alone; no one can. It requires resources and voices that can create the kind of influence that changes the rules, so I’m immensely grateful that I found a group of like-minded, wealthy peers to join forces with. I’m also honored to chair the group’s Membership at Scale initiative. We have our work cut out for us, but I’m confident we can make an impact that will benefit generations of Americans to come.
It’s a bit ironic that my journey to wealth started at the Saratoga Springs Horse Racetrack. The racetrack was built in 1863 and it still fills up every summer with the newly gilded rich. When I was young, I thought that the concentration of wealth that Saratoga represented was something to be celebrated. But after a whole loop around the racetrack of life, I know better—and am doing my part to fix the problem through my work with Patriotic Millionaires.
John Esler was the founder and CEO of Esler Companies, the largest affiliate of Renewal by Andersen, the nation’s premier replacement window and door brand. After retiring, John and his wife Jeanne established the Esler Family Foundation with a mission to reduce wealth inequality, advance leadership development, and increase access to mental health services.
To get in touch with John, please contact Emily McCloskey, Deputy Communications Director, at emily@patrioticmillionaires.org.