Bob Parsons’ life reads like an American epic of resilience, reinvention, and relentless determination. Long before he became a billionaire entrepreneur, the founder of GoDaddy and PXG was a struggling student, a troubled teenager from East Baltimore, and a young Marine fighting for survival in the jungles of Vietnam. His rise from hardship to extraordinary wealth is not merely a story of business success—it is a testament to the power of perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Speaking with Forbes Executive Editor Luisa Kroll, Parsons reflected on a journey that has taken him from a neglected childhood and the battlefields of war to the ranks of America’s most successful self-made entrepreneurs. Along the way, he learned lessons about risk, leadership, sacrifice, and personal growth that continue to shape his life today.

The defining turning point, Parsons said, came at age 17. At the time, he was failing nearly every subject in high school and saw little direction for his future. When two friends decided to visit a Marine Corps recruiter during the height of the Vietnam War, he joined them. His mother reluctantly signed the paperwork, telling him, “Maybe this will be the thing you need to turn your life around.”

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Years later, Parsons still regards those words as one of the most prophetic statements ever spoken to him.

The Marine Corps gave him structure, discipline, and purpose. Soon after enlisting, he found himself deployed to Vietnam as a combat Marine. The reality of war arrived quickly. He joined a unit that had recently lost several men in a deadly ambush and entered combat within hours of arriving in the field.

“I saw my first combat that night,” he recalled. “I saw how badly somebody could be wounded.”

Those experiences changed him forever.

The memories of home were no less striking. Parsons grew up in a household shaped by financial hardship and gambling addiction. His parents often struggled to provide stability, and emotional support was scarce. On the day he left for Vietnam, unsure whether he would ever return, his father departed without saying goodbye. His mother opened his bedroom door before heading to the racetrack and simply said, “Don’t get yourself killed.” The brief farewell would remain etched in his memory for decades.

When Parsons returned from Vietnam, he was no longer the carefree teenager who had left. Like many veterans, he carried invisible wounds. He became withdrawn, short-tempered, and uncomfortable around people. Although PTSD was not widely understood at the time, he now recognizes that it profoundly influenced the course of his life.

Rather than turning to alcohol or drugs, Parsons found another outlet. He worked. Relentlessly.

“Everybody that has PTSD treats it one way or another,” he explained. For him, work became both therapy and escape. The constant focus required to build something meaningful helped quiet the chaos in his mind.

Determined to create a better future, Parsons enrolled at the University of Baltimore through a program that accepted students regardless of their high school performance. The same young man who had nearly failed out of school transformed into an exceptional student, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in accountancy and later passing the CPA examination on his first attempt.

It was a remarkable turnaround, but an even greater opportunity lay ahead.

While working as an accountant in California, Parsons purchased a programming book and taught himself how to code. What started as curiosity soon became an obsession. He spent countless hours mastering software development and eventually launched his first technology company with $40,000 of his own money.

The commitment was extraordinary. Parsons often worked 64-hour stretches without stopping. He would begin on Monday morning and continue working through Tuesday and into Wednesday before finally resting. At times, exhaustion became so severe that he experienced hallucinations. Yet he kept going.

“Had I not done that,” he said, “that business would have never made it.” His sacrifice paid off. The company eventually sold for $64 million, proving that the former Marine had discovered a rare talent for entrepreneurship. That success laid the foundation for future ventures, including GoDaddy, which would become one of the world’s most recognizable internet companies.

Despite taking enormous risks throughout his career, Parsons insists he never viewed himself as a gambler.

Having witnessed firsthand how gambling devastated his family, he developed a very different perspective on risk. To him, entrepreneurship was not about chance; it was about preparation, effort, and execution.

“People would ask me, ‘Suppose it doesn’t work?’” he recalled. “I always said, ‘Suppose it does?’”

That mindset became one of the defining principles of his career. Rather than focusing on what could go wrong, Parsons concentrated on what was possible if he committed fully to the task ahead. His philosophy on success is equally straightforward.

“A lot of people work smart,” he said. “Most of them worked for me. I worked hard.”

As his fortune grew, Parsons sought balance beyond the boardroom. Golf became a passion that helped him decompress and reconnect with life outside work. What began as occasional rounds with colleagues evolved into a lifelong pursuit, eventually leading him to create Scottsdale National Golf Club, one of the most exclusive golf destinations in America.

Yet for all his achievements, Parsons remains candid about the personal costs of success. He acknowledges that his intense work ethic often kept him away from his children during their formative years. He speaks openly about the lingering effects of PTSD and the emotional challenges that accompanied his rise.

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Those experiences have fueled his philanthropic work and his advocacy for innovative treatments for veterans suffering from trauma. Today, he is among the strongest supporters of emerging therapies designed to help those battling the same invisible wounds he carried for decades.

What makes Parsons’ story remarkable is not simply the wealth he accumulated, but the obstacles he overcame to achieve it. He began life with few advantages. He struggled academically. He survived war. He battled personal demons. Yet each setback became a stepping stone rather than a stopping point.

Asked what he would tell the teenage version of himself preparing to leave for Vietnam, Parsons offered a response that captured the wisdom of a lifetime.

“I’d tell him, ‘You know more about the right thing to do than you can possibly imagine. Just trust your judgment, son. You’ll be okay.’”

For a man who journeyed from the streets of East Baltimore to the heights of entrepreneurial success, those words serve as both reflection and inspiration, a reminder that greatness often emerges not from comfort or certainty, but from the courage to keep moving forward when every reason exists to quit.