Tyler G. Hicks, the “Millionaire Maker”

Publisher, Author, Engineer, Financier, and Founder of International Wealth Success

June 21, 1921–March 12, 2020

Tyler G. Hicks was one of America’s most prolific and practical writers on entrepreneurship, business financing, real estate, and wealth creation. During a publishing career spanning more than six decades, he wrote more than 130 books, founded International Wealth Success in 1966, financed small businesses, taught entrepreneurs around the world, and introduced millions of readers to the possibilities of business ownership.

Known to generations of Beginning Wealth Builders as the “Millionaire Maker,” Tyler rejected the notion that wealth creation belonged only to financiers, corporations, and the already affluent. His books showed ordinary men and women how to start businesses, acquire real estate, borrow money productively, find opportunities, and use Other People’s Money to build something of their own.

Tyler served as President of International Wealth Success until his death on March 12, 2020, at the age of 98. The company he founded continues his mission today by publishing practical books, systems, directories, and resources for entrepreneurs, investors, dealmakers, and wealth builders.

The Early Life of Tyler G. Hicks

Tyler G. Hicks was born in New York City on June 21, 1921. He attended Holy Spirit School and DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where his writing career began with astonishing speed.

At twelve years old, Tyler sold his first article to an engineering magazine for $3. That small payment represented something far larger: proof that specialised knowledge, clearly presented, possessed genuine economic value.

At fourteen, Tyler went to sea aboard the Columbia, a passenger ship operated by the Columbian Line. During subsequent summer holidays, he worked as an engine-room crewman aboard freighters and tankers sailing from the Port of New York to destinations around the world.

After graduating from high school, he joined the United States Merchant Marine full-time. Tyler ultimately served aboard eleven oceangoing ships operated by companies including United States Lines, Grace Lines, Clyde-Mallory Lines, Southern Pacific Lines, Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company, Calmar Steamship Company, and the American Scantic Line of the Moore-McCormack Company.

His service continued through the Second World War. During that period, Tyler survived the sinking of three merchant ships that were torpedoed while he was aboard. He rose to the rank of First Assistant Engineer, gaining the technical discipline, resilience, and appetite for practical problem-solving that would later define his writing.

Engineering, Education, and the Written Word

After leaving the sea, Tyler entered the Cooper Union School of Engineering. He earned his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree in 1948 while also working as an engineering drafter for Lockwood-Greene, Inc., Consulting Engineers.

Tyler continued writing throughout his studies. His technical articles appeared in engineering publications around the world, allowing him to build a professional reputation before completing his degree. Soon after graduation, he earned his Professional Engineer’s licence.

His professional affiliations included the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the United States Naval Institute. Engineering gave Tyler more than a profession. It gave him a permanent method: define the objective, study the available resources, design a workable system, and put that system into action.

Tyler G. Hicks Enters the Publishing World

In 1950, Tyler joined Power magazine, published by the McGraw-Hill Companies, as an Assistant Editor. He later became Special Projects Editor before transferring to the McGraw-Hill Book Company in 1957.

As an Acquisitions Editor, Tyler sponsored numerous engineering books that became bestsellers. He possessed an unusual ability to recognise valuable knowledge, organise it, and present it in a form readers could immediately use.

Tyler’s first engineering book, Plant Engineer’s Easy Problem Solver, was published in 1954. Many additional titles on mechanical engineering followed.

His most famous technical work, Standard Handbook of Engineering Calculations, became an international engineering classic. The book has appeared in multiple editions, has been translated into numerous languages, and has served generations of professional engineers throughout the world.

Tyler also taught in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Cooper Union Evening School of Engineering during his years at McGraw-Hill. His combined experience as engineer, editor, author, and instructor prepared him for an even broader undertaking: teaching people how to build businesses and create wealth.

From Engineering Books to Wealth-Building Books

Tyler published his first major business book, How to Build a Second Income Fortune in Your Spare Time, through Prentice-Hall in 1963. The book sold more than half a million copies and established him as a leading voice in practical entrepreneurship.

That success led to an extraordinary succession of books on business ownership, financing, mail order, real estate, acquisitions, and personal wealth building. Tyler wrote for people who wanted usable methods rather than abstract theories.

His third major business book, How to Borrow Your Way to a Great Fortune, sold more than one million copies around the world. Other bestselling titles included:

• How to Start Your Own Business on a Shoestring and Earn Up to $500,000 a Year
• Smart Money Shortcuts to Becoming Rich
• How to Borrow Your Way to Real Estate Riches
• How to Make One Million Dollars in Real Estate in Three Years Starting with No Cash

Later editions of several titles were published by Simon & Schuster. His books on mail order and home-based business were published by Prima Publishing and distributed by St. Martin’s Press.

Tyler wrote seven of his business books while commuting between his Long Island home and New York City aboard the Long Island Rail Road. Train delays became additional writing time. As he once told friends, “Delays never bother me. I just get more words down on paper!”

Other People’s Money and the Beginning Wealth Builder

Tyler helped popularise a number of concepts that became central to modern entrepreneurial language. Two of the most enduring were OPM, meaning Other People’s Money, and BWB, meaning Beginning Wealth Builder.

Other People’s Money represented more than borrowing. Tyler used the term to describe the intelligent use of financing, seller credit, partnerships, investors, trade credit, and other resources to pursue opportunities beyond the entrepreneur’s existing cash.

The Beginning Wealth Builder was the person at the start of the journey. Tyler understood that millions of people wanted to own businesses, acquire property, and improve their financial lives, yet lacked capital, experience, contacts, and a clear starting point.

His work was created for them.

Tyler believed that practical knowledge could shorten the distance between ambition and accomplishment. Every book, seminar, publication, and business system was designed to help the reader take the next concrete step.

Tyler G. Hicks Founds International Wealth Success

In 1966, while still working at McGraw-Hill, Tyler founded International Wealth Success in his spare time. What began as a specialised publishing venture grew into a substantial library of books, reports, courses, directories, and business systems.

International Wealth Success published practical information on:

• Starting and acquiring businesses
• Raising capital and finding financing
• Real estate investment
• Import-export enterprises
• Mail order and direct marketing
• Venture capital
• Finder businesses
• Business opportunities
• Wealth creation

Tyler served as publisher and editor of several IW$ publications, including International Wealth Success, Global Finding Services, and Money Watch Bulletin. His work reached readers throughout the United States and overseas.

He also lectured and taught business and engineering subjects around the world. Executives and employees from scores of Fortune 500 companies attended his seminars in the United States and Europe.

Tyler regularly addressed large audiences through The Learning Annex and The Seminar Center, where he taught practical methods for starting businesses, financing opportunities, and building personal wealth.

A Businessman Who Practised What He Published

Tyler’s business experience extended far beyond writing and publishing. For several years, he owned and operated a ten-table billiard room in Brooklyn. The venture gave him direct experience with customers, employees, overhead, promotion, cash flow, and the daily realities faced by small-business owners.

He used those experiences in his books, drawing examples from the practical world rather than relying solely on theory. Tyler understood that a business method proved its worth only when it functioned beyond the printed page.

He also financed entrepreneurs and offered business and real estate loans through his company. A number of profitable enterprises grew from those loans, giving Tyler an active role in helping other people turn plans into operating businesses.

His biography appeared in Who’s Who in America for several decades.

Leadership in Finance and Credit

Tyler was elected to the Board of Directors of the McGraw-Hill Employees Federal Credit Union in 1958. He became President in 1968 and Chairman of the Board in 1975.

During his years of leadership, the credit union’s assets grew from approximately $800,000 to $150 million. Tyler remained on its Board of Directors until 2019, when the institution was acquired by Pentagon Federal Credit Union.

His work with the credit union reflected one of the central principles running through his career: capital becomes productive when it is organised, directed, and placed behind worthwhile people and opportunities.

The Tyler G. Hicks Philosophy of Success

Tyler’s philosophy joined disciplined planning with imagination, personal responsibility, and useful work. He believed people could accomplish extraordinary goals when they studied their objectives carefully, pictured successful achievement, and acted persistently.

He expressed that belief in these words:

“The clearest and strongest thought permeating my life is based on my own experience and observation of the lives of thousands of people throughout the world. This thought is: men and women can achieve in life whatever goals they set for themselves if a person combines careful planning and analysis of each objective with mental images of successful achievement. This approach seems to work everywhere, for everyone. Choosing to do what one enjoys also contributes to success because better performance occurs when people like what they’re doing. Helping others achieve their goals in life brings great rewards to both the helper and the person assisted.”

This philosophy animated Tyler’s entire body of work. He encouraged readers to set ambitious financial goals, examine the available paths, select a workable course, and support thought with decisive action.

Tyler G. Hicks at Sea

Tyler remained an ardent yachtsman throughout his life and owned a series of yachts named Success. His affection for the sea never left him, even after his Merchant Marine career ended.

While boating, he developed practical piloting and navigation guides for boat owners and yacht crews. These guides were used by pleasure boaters and professional mariners throughout the world.

Tyler was a long-standing member of the Huntington Yacht Club and the Rockville Links Golf Club. The sea, engineering, publishing, business, and wealth building may appear to be separate worlds, yet Tyler approached all of them through the same discipline: understand the system, prepare carefully, and move forward with purpose.

His Family and Later Years

Tyler married Saretta M. Gratke of Strawberry Point, Iowa, in 1946. They had three children: Gregory Tyler Hicks, an architect; Steven David Hicks, a journalist; and Barbara Lynn Beach, a registered nurse.

Saretta died in 1974. In 1975, Tyler married Mary T. Shanley of East Rockaway, New York, who had served as his secretary at McGraw-Hill for twelve years.

Tyler was also the grandfather of seven grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Dr. Richard Hicks of La Jolla, California, and Brian Hicks of New York City.

Tyler continued writing, publishing, lecturing, and directing International Wealth Success well into his later years. He died peacefully on March 12, 2020.

The Legacy of Tyler G. Hicks

Tyler G. Hicks made entrepreneurship accessible.

He showed readers that a lack of wealth did not eliminate opportunity. A person could begin with knowledge, determination, a carefully structured proposal, a willing seller, an investor, a lender, a customer, or a profitable idea.

His books taught people how to find possibilities hidden inside ordinary businesses, neglected properties, overlooked markets, financing structures, and specialised information. He wrote about building wealth through action because he had spent his life taking action himself.

Millions of readers encountered business ownership, real estate investment, Other People’s Money, direct marketing, and practical wealth creation through Tyler’s work. Many started businesses, acquired properties, raised capital, or changed the direction of their lives because one of his books showed them a path they had never previously considered.

International Wealth Success continues that work today.

Explore the Tyler G. Hicks Wealth-Building Library

Tyler G. Hicks created an extensive body of work covering the principal paths to business ownership and financial independence. International Wealth Success is preserving, restoring, expanding, and republishing that work for a new generation of Beginning Wealth Builders.

Discover books, directories, and practical systems for finding lenders, attracting investors, structuring financing, and putting Other People’s Money to productive use.

Learn how to locate, evaluate, negotiate, finance, and acquire an operating business rather than beginning at zero.

Explore business ideas, mail order enterprises, finder opportunities, direct marketing methods, and practical systems for creating a profitable operation.

Study Tyler’s methods for acquiring, financing, improving, and profiting from real estate, including strategies designed for people beginning with limited cash.

Read the Books of Tyler G. Hicks

Browse the Tyler G. Hicks Generational Wealth Library and discover the books that have helped generations of entrepreneurs move from financial ambition to practical action.