My parents started a business out of the living room of our home and 30-plus years later it was a multimillion dollar company. So President Obama with all due respect don't tell me that my parents didn't build their business.
I think there's a suspicion in the South of people putting on airs. You see it in most successful Southern politicians but you also see it in someone like Richard Petty who may be a multimillionaire stock car driver but he's also beloved because he has a nice self-deprecatory way about him.
Don't solicit feedback on your product idea or your business just for validation purposes. You want to tell the people who can help move your idea forward but if you're just looking to your friend co-worker husband or wife for validation be careful. It can stop a lot of multimillion-dollar ideas in their tracks in the beginning.
Certainly I've had the experience of thinking a person was one thing and finding out they were another.