People who became millionaires for unexpected reasons

While we all spend at least five to six days a week working for a living, there are people getting lucky or taking risks at the right time who suddenly become millionaires.

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In 2016, to prove to her husband that lottery tickets were a waste of money, a woman named Glenda Blackwell bought a $10 Carolina Millions scratch-off ticket. In the end she accidentally won the prize and $1 million.

Source: CNN

After getting upset with her husband Buddy because he asked her to buy him a Powerball ticket, Blackwell, 57, from Leicester, North Carolina, decided to do something to prove to her husband that buying a lottery ticket was a pointless waste. However, she unexpectedly won with a lottery ticket. She then decided to buy a house and some land to help support her daughter as well as set aside some money to pay for college tuition for her two nieces.
There was a seven-year-old boy who watched a lot of toy videos on YouTube and decided to do vlogs about other toys. The boy then made $22 million a year from his videos and product line at Walmart.
Ryan's YouTube channel has influenced the world of toys in the same way that PewDiePie, a Swedish comedian and video game commentator, influenced video games. As of February 2019, one of Ryan's videos titled "Surprise Toy Challenge with Giant Eggs" has surpassed 1.7 billion views. From eighth place on YouTube highest paid in 2016-2017 with $11 million in revenue, he became the highest paid with $22 million in 2018.

Source: The Verge

After watching toy review channels on YouTube, Ryan asked his mother, "Why don't I make a video on YouTube for other kids to watch?". And then the boy started his vlog career in March 2015, and his mother quit her job as a high school chemistry teacher to make a toy review video with her son. In 2017, the boy's parents signed up with a children's media startup called Pocket.watch to market and sell merchandise. In 2018, Ryan's channel also created an app called “Tag with Ryan” for iOS and Android devices. That same year, the channel released a new line of toys called "Ryan's World" exclusively on Walmart, Target, and later Amazon.com.
In 1992, while searching for a lost hammer with a metal detector, a retired man found a huge Roman treasure containing 15,234 coins. The British government then paid him and the landowner £1.75 million to buy back the artifacts.

Source: Flickr

When farmer Peter Whatling lost his hammer, he asked for the help of his friend Eric Lawes, who received a metal detector as a retirement gift. On November 16, Lawes was rummaging through Whatling's farmland in the village of Hoxne, Suffolk, England, when he suddenly found the storage. It contained numerous gold and silver objects, 15,234 Roman coins, several silver spoons, and 200 gold objects. Archaeologists have determined that the objects date back to 410 AD, the time when England broke away from the Roman Empire.
There is a woman named Ailin Graef, aka Anshe Chung, who became an actual millionaire by selling virtual real estate on the online world Second Life.

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While living in Los Gatos, California, Dahl was sitting with his friends in a Bonny Doon bar to hear them complain about their pets. He later joked that he has the perfect pet - a rock - that doesn't need bathing, walking, feeding and grooming. Plus, it won't get sick or old, disobey, or die.
Dahl then bought rocks for a penny each, and the price this man sold these "pets" was also extremely reasonable. His biggest expense was the production of the boxes and the “Official Training Manual” – a 32-page pamphlet called “Care and Training Your Pet”.

Source: NY Times

Although sales were low in February 1976, Dahl sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks for $4 each, making him a millionaire.
During the Great Depression, a banker persuaded a small town of troubled families in Florida to buy shares of Coca-Cola. This town became the richest town per capita in the US and is now home to at least 67 millionaires.
In the 20s and 30s, the farming town of Quincy was struggling to survive. But Pat Munroe noticed that the townspeople were buying bottles of Coca-Cola with their remaining money. At the time, the company's stock was fairly cheap at $19 per share. So he invested in stocks, and as a trusted banker, many took his advice and also invested even when the market went down.

Source: Tallahasse Magazine

Munroe's instincts paid off, and stocks dragged the town through the worst of the Great Recession. Dividends are also reported to have saved lives during subsequent recessions and crop failures. Many of them have amassed huge fortunes that have earned them the name “Coca-Cola millionaires” and passed on their wealth to their descendants.