As inflation continues and an economic downturn looms, Americans are worried about their financial security. Scottsdale resident Candy Valentino knows something about financial hardship, having grown up in a trailer and found financial freedom with no college or professional background.

Valentino’s book “Wealth Habits: Six Ordinary Steps to Achieve Extraordinary Financial Freedom” just hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.

Some of the not-so-obvious secrets she reveals:

• Six ways to recession-proof your life.
• Why the average millionaire has four streams of income and how you can, too.
• Why self-education leads to higher income than higher education.
• How to start a business while keeping your steady paycheck job.
• How to give the IRS as little money as legally possible.
• Why real estate investing is the hat trick of building wealth.
• Four things they don’t teach you in school and why it’s keeping you broke.
• How practicing gratitude creates wealth in surprising ways.

“You don’t need to know everything, or be the best at anything, to be wealthy,” Valentino said in a press release. “You just have to do a few ordinary things, and over time you will achieve extraordinary results.”

“Wealth Habits” reminds us that regardless of what family you came from, what level of education you have or what your current financial life looks like, you can make your way to financial freedom, regardless of your circumstances, the release stated.

Born to teenaged parents, Valentino grew up in a trailer in rural Pennsylvania. At 19 years old, with no degree, no corporate background and no money, she started her first multimillion-dollar brick and mortar business. Since then she founded, scaled and successfully sold businesses in service, retail and e-commerce, as well as created a vast real estate investment portfolio.

Her parents couldn’t afford childcare, so she went to her father’s small auto repair shop after school. Seeing her dad struggle firsthand in a small business motivated her to seek opportunity. At age 18, she traveled to New York City, visiting a cutting-edge wellness spa. She recognized there were none of these in Pennsylvania, or much of the east coast at that time, so she saw a need.

Applying for a small business loan, she was able to start a wellness spa before they were popular. She grew and scaled the company, got into product manufacturing and started other businesses. With the profits, she started investing in real estate while also founding a charity nonprofit for animals, HEAL Animal Rescue.

Valentino has developed programs to help underprivileged, fostered or abused children through providing hope, healing and empowerment to end the abuse cycle. She knows that success, financial or otherwise, is only possible when there is hope, the press release stated.

During her two-and-a-half decades as an entrepreneur, Valentino has been named to Top Business Leaders 40 Under 40, Top 50 Women In Business, 10 People Making a Difference, Top 10 Business Consultants by Yahoo Finance, and was the youngest female to receive the Governor’s Award in Entrepreneurship in Pennsylvania. In addition, Success Magazine named her “Women of Influence” and “Leaders Who Get Results” alongside Tony Robbins and Brené Brown. She was named “Person of Distinction” in Arizona.

She’s been featured in numerous TV, radio, magazine and newspaper articles including Forbes, Success Magazine, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider and BBC World Report — not only for business and investing, but for advocacy and philanthropic work. After exiting her last company, Valentino started sharing her business and investing strategies as CEO of Founders Organization.

With almost 25 years of experience creating successful businesses in multiple industries, Valentino is a mentor, speaker and trainer on the topics of wealth creation, business development and real estate investing. “Wealth Habits is her first book.”