Rory Vaden is probably the wealthiest homeless guy in Colorado - at least when he's here.

Mostly, he lives out of his suitcase, traveling from city to city, giving promotional talks. He must be a pretty good talker. He finished second recently at the world championships of Toastmasters International.

And here's one reason he lives on the road so much, or actually about 100,000 of them: "I won't make seven figures this year - definitely six figures," he said. "I travel to a new city every three months. I live in corporate housing - furnished apartments. I'm basically homeless."

Vaden, 25, of Denver, co-founded Success Starts Now with partners Gary Michels and Dustin Hillis. It's owned by Southwestern Publishing Co., with which he has a long history for a young guy.

Vaden heads one of three teams that travel, earning money by selling tickets to corporate motivational talks about selling. They also talk to high school students about overcoming hardships and doing good.

Vaden's an expert on that.

"I was raised by a single mother," he said. "I grew up in trailer parks and apartments around Boulder."

His mom, Tessie Gale, paid for him to take a martial arts class. One of the fellow students, Kevin Vaden, was much older.

Vaden introduced the older man to his mom. They married.

"He adopted me," Vaden said. "He has been a major part of my life for the last 13 years."

The family settled in Frederick. And Vaden concentrated on school. He was a good athlete. But it was brains that earned him a full ride to DU, where he stayed on to receive an MBA.

In college, Vaden linked up with Southwestern to sell children's educational books door-to-door in summer.

"I'd knock on my first door at 7:30 and my last door at 10 p.m," he said. "It was the hardest thing in the world. I cried every day. I just hated the way that people looked at me. It's hard being away from home, hard having people slam doors on you."

He overcame his misery, earning about $45,000 a year.

And now, he teaches others how to overcome their fear of rejection.

He joined Toastmasters to improve his public speaking. This was his second year in the finals.

"It was an emotional ride," said Vaden, who is a member of Cherry Creek Toastmasters. "For a lot of winners, it will launch a professional speaking career. I already have that."

For fun, he does stand-up comedy, a topic he researched for his master's degree.

He has written a book - No Laughs to Know Laughs - How to be Funny to Make More Money, published by Southwestern. He is finishing a second book and starting a third.

Business is great, and he expects it to get better. And that will help immensely to reach another goal he has.

"I'm looking to buy a home in Denver," he said.

massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5271.