Elon Musk used to work as a lumberjack in Vancouver

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While he may be worth billions today as the CEO of Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, Elon Musk had some pretty humble beginnings on his rise to the top – including a series of odd jobs here in Canada.

According to the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Musk left his South Africa home at just 17 to move to Canada, where he lived and worked on his cousin’s farm in Waldeck, Saskatchewan. He also became a Canadian citizen, as his mother was born in Canada.

On my cousin’s farm in Canada at 17, wearing a hat on a hat pic.twitter.com/U96ClGz5gZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2017

From there, he moved to Vancouver and got a job as a bonafide lumberjack, cutting logs with a chainsaw. He then took a job as a boiler room cleaner at a lumber mill after searching for high-paying jobs at the time. The gig paid him $18 an hour. He didn’t specify what the company was called.

He described the job as difficult and that many people quit.

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“[You] put on this hazmat suit and then shimmy through this little tunnel that you can barely fit in. Then, you have to shovel, and you take the sand and goop and other residue, which is still steaming hot, and you have to shovel it through the same hole you came in through.

“Someone else on the other side has to shovel it into a wheelbarrow. If you stay in there for more than 30 minutes, you get too hot and die.”

“There is no escape,” he said dramatically.

Musk ultimately gave up the manual labour life to obtain a degree from the University of Pennsylvania and would go on to build his now high-profile career.

Musk’s Canadian connection didn’t end with his move stateside, however, as he had a very public relationship with Canadian musician Grimes.

Musk and Grimes (whose real name is Claire Boucher) share two children. Their son, named X Æ A-12 Musk, and a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk.

According to the tabloids, the couple has since separated.