The potential Virginia had to make fortunes was boundless. The success of many was due to the fact that they learned from their mistakes. The first group of settlers faced many hardships such as famine, the bitter cold winters, and diseases. Learning from their past mistakes they learned better ways to grow their crops. They learned most of it from the local Natives who were willing to help. Learning how to grow their own food was very essential because not only did it save some lives from starvation, it gave them the ability to grow other crops with success such as tobacco.

John Rolfe was the first to experiment with tobacco in 1609. He had acquired some tobacco seeds and began to plant them. Although it did not go for 10 or more shillings like the tobacco made by the Spanish, it was still a way to make profit for the colony. As a result of tobacco, many from Europe wanted to get a chance to claim of piece of the fortune waiting to be obtained. But, the passage to the New World became too much to afford for an average person living in Europe. This led to the development of indentured servants. Someone who was already in the new colony would offer to pay for the trip and in return, the person coming over would work for the person paying for about seven years. The development of servants along with the growing potential from tobacco made masters fortunes. The reason masters would reap the benefit is because the servants would do the hard work and labor, yet during harvesting times, the master would make a lot of money by selling the tobacco for 1-3 shillings per pound.

By the late 17th century, slaves were becoming more common to own. This was due to the reason that mortality rates were not as high and it became more economical. Introducing slaves into the work field continued to bring masters with success because masters would no longer need to re-buy servants after the seven year term is over. By having a lot of land and a lot of workers, it produced an enormous amount of tobacco ready to be sold. The European immigrants who came to the New World to seek fortune found it through the hard working laborers and tobacco.