How did Andy Frisella build First Form from $12,000 with no investors?

Andy Frisella started First Form with $12,000 and no investors, no inheritance, and no outside money. The first store was tiny, about the size of the flag in his office, and the first day in business brought in only $7. Early on the business made almost nothing: he says the first three years produced no profit, and it took six years to open a second store. Across his first ten years he made $58,380 in total, roughly $695 a month from year three to year ten. To keep things going he bartended and took other side jobs, and for the first couple of years the family lived in the back of the store. He says he kept pushing because he had no other realistic options. Later, the company brought distribution in-house and hired outside consultants to teach its staff how to run it, which he describes as costly in time and money at the start but necessary for the business to grow.