At an early age, I started my own paper route. Once I saw how you could service people and do a good job and get paid for it, I just wanted to be the best I could be in whatever I did.

In this recollection, Combs frames his first job—a childhood paper route—as the origin of a durable work ethic. The emphasis is less on money than on the exchange at the heart of commerce: providing reliable service, taking pride in quality, and being compensated for value delivered. He presents this early lesson as transferable across fields, suggesting that excellence is a habit formed through repeated, ordinary responsibilities rather than sudden inspiration. The quote also aligns with a broader self-made narrative common in entrepreneurial autobiography, where modest early labor becomes proof of discipline, ambition, and a customer-centered mindset.