I t ’ s not uncommon for an entrepreneur to emerge when their career path becomes blocked . Others might be content to wait , but a livelier mind will look for another way . That ’ s what happened when 29 year-old Frank Martin , a carpenter by trade and with twelve years ’ experience , was overlooked for a promotion that should have been his . That was in back in 1973 . Martin , taking a break on a scaffold at the Las Vegas building site he was working on , shared his frustration with his younger colleague and fellow carpenter Frank Harris , who threw out the suggestion that they set up in business together .