Successful Failures
50 Famous People Who Failed at Their
First Attempt at Career Success
Bud Bilanich
YOUR
CAREER MENTOR
As a career success coach, I always
advise my clients to stick with it – to demonstrate their commitment to
their career success to themselves and others by shaking off setbacks and
moving forward.
This
morning, I received an email from Katina Solomon at OnLineCollege.org telling me
about a new blog post she had just done and asking me to pass it on to my
readers.
I loved this
post. It tells the stories of “50 Famously Successful People Who Failed
at First.”
These people
come from all walks of life. But they shared one characteristic in common -
the commitment to their own career success. I am very happy to repost it
here….
50 Famously
Successful People Who Failed at First
Not everyone
who’s on top today got there with success after success.
More often
than not, those who history best remembers were faced with numerous obstacles
that forced them to work harder and show more determination than others.
Next time
you’re feeling down about your failures in college or in a career, keep these
fifty famous people in mind and remind yourself that sometimes failure is just
the first step towards success.
Business Gurus
These
businessmen and the companies they founded are today known around the world,
but as these stories show, their beginnings weren’t always smooth.
1. Henry Ford: While Ford is today known
for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars, he wasn’t an instant
success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five time
before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.
2. R. H. Macy: Most people are familiar
with this large department store chain, but Macy didn’t always have it easy.
Macy started seven failed businesses before finally hitting big with his store
in New York City.
3. F. W. Woolworth: Some may not know this
name today, but Woolworth was once one of the biggest names in department
stores in the U.S. Before starting his own business, young Woolworth worked at
a dry goods store and was not allowed to wait on customers because his boss said
he lacked the sense needed to do so.
4. Soichiro Honda: The billion-dollar
business that is Honda began with a series of failures and fortunate turns of
luck. Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after
interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time.
He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors,
finally started his own business.
5. Akio Morita: You may not have heard of
Morita but you’ve undoubtedly heard of his company, Sony. Sony’s first product
was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn’t cook rice so much as burn it,
selling less than 100 units. This first setback didn’t stop Morita and his
partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.
6. Bill Gates: Gates didn’t seem like a
shoe-in for success after dropping out of Harvard and starting a failed first
business with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While this
early idea didn’t work, Gates’ later work did, creating the global empire that
is Microsoft.
7. Harland David Sanders: Perhaps better
known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard
time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe
was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
8. Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in
billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt
Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor
because, “he lacked imagination and had
no good ideas.” After that, Disney started a number of businesses that
didn’t last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging
along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.
Scientists and Thinkers
These people
are often regarded as some of the greatest minds of our century, but they often
had to face great obstacles, the ridicule of their peers and the animosity of
society.
9. Albert Einstein: Most of us take
Einstein’s name as synonymous with genius, but he didn’t always show such
promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was
seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped,
slow and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused
admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit
longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end,
winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics.
10. Charles Darwin: In his early years,
Darwin gave up on having a medical career and was often chastised by his father
for being lazy and too dreamy. Darwin himself wrote, “I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy,
rather below the common standard of intellect.” Perhaps they judged too
soon, as Darwin today is well-known for his scientific studies.
11. Robert Goddard: Goddard today is hailed for his
research and experimentation with liquid-fueled rockets, but during his
lifetime his ideas were often rejected and mocked by his scientific peers who
thought they were outrageous and impossible. Today rockets and space travel
don’t seem far-fetched at all, due largely in part to the work of this
scientist who worked against the feelings of the time.
12. Isaac Newton: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did
particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm,
he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him
off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.
13. Socrates: Despite leaving no written
records behind, Socrates is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the
Classical era. Because of his new ideas, in his own time he was called “an immoral corrupter of youth” and was
sentenced to death. Socrates didn’t let this stop him and kept right on,
teaching up until he was forced to poison himself.
14. Robert Sternberg: This big name in
psychology received a C in his first college introductory psychology class with
his teacher telling him that, “there was
already a famous Sternberg in psychology and it was obvious there would not be
another.” Sternberg showed him, however, graduating from Stanford with
exceptional distinction in psychology, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa and
eventually becoming the President of the American Psychological Association.
Inventors
These
inventors changed the face of the modern world, but not without a few failed
prototypes along the way.
15. Thomas Edison: In his early years,
teachers told Edison he was “too stupid
to learn anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two
jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000
unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those
unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
16. Orville and Wilbur Wright: These
brothers battled depression and family illness before starting the bicycle shop
that would lead them to experimenting with flight. After numerous attempts at
creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed
prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and
stay there.
Public Figures
From
politicians to talk show hosts, these figures had a few failures before they
came out on top.
17. Winston Churchill: This Nobel
Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasn’t always
as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and failed the
sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures, as he was
defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime
Minister at the ripe old age of 62.
18. Abraham Lincoln: While today he is
remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our nation, Lincoln’s life wasn’t
so easy. In his youth he went to war a captain and returned a private (if
you’re not familiar with military ranks, just know that private is as low as it
goes.) Lincoln didn’t stop failing there, however. He started numerous failed
businesses and was defeated in numerous runs he made for public office.
19. Oprah Winfrey: Most people know Oprah
as one of the most iconic faces on TV as well as one of the richest and most
successful women in the world. Oprah faced a hard road to get to that position,
however, enduring a rough and often abusive childhood as well as numerous
career setbacks including being fired from her job as a television reporter
because she was “unfit for tv.”
20. Harry S. Truman: This WWI vet, Senator,
Vice President and eventual President eventually found success in his life, but
not without a few missteps along the way. Truman started a store that sold silk
shirts and other clothing – seemingly a success at first – only go bankrupt a
few years later.
21. Dick Cheney: This recent Vice President
and businessman made his way to the White House but managed to flunk out of
Yale University, not once, but twice. Former President George W. Bush joked
with Cheney about this fact, stating, “So
now we know –if you graduate from Yale, you become president. If you drop out,
you get to be vice president.”
Hollywood Types
These faces
ought to be familiar from the big screen, but these actors, actresses and
directors saw their fair share of rejection and failure before they made it
big.
22. Jerry Seinfeld: Just about everybody
knows who Seinfeld is, but the first time the young comedian walked on stage at
a comedy club, he looked out at the audience, froze and was eventually jeered
and booed off of the stage. Seinfeld knew he could do it, so he went back the
next night, completed his set to laughter and applause, and the rest is
history.
23. Fred Astaire: In his first screen test,
the testing director of MGM noted that Astaire, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire
went on to become an incredibly successful actor, singer and dancer and kept
that note in his Beverly Hills home to remind him of where he came from.
24. Sidney Poitier: After his first
audition, Poitier was told by the casting director, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a
dishwasher or something?” Poitier vowed to show him that he could make it,
going on to win an Oscar and become one of the most well-regarded actors in the
business.
25. Jeanne Moreau: As a young actress just
starting out, this French actress was told by a casting director that she was
simply not pretty enough to make it in films. He couldn’t have been more wrong
as Moreau when on to star in nearly 100 films and win numerous awards for her
performances.
26. Charlie Chaplin: It’s hard to imagine
film without the iconic Charlie Chaplin, but his act was initially rejected by
Hollywood studio chiefs because they felt it was a little too nonsensical to
ever sell.
27. Lucille Ball: During her career, Ball
had thirteen Emmy nominations and four wins, also earning the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors. Before starring in I Love
Lucy, Ball was widely regarded as a failed actress and a B movie star. Even her
drama instructors didn’t feel she could make it, telling her to try another
profession. She, of course, proved them all wrong.
28. Harrison Ford: In his first film, Ford
was told by the movie execs that he simply didn’t have what it takes to be a
star. Today, with numerous hits under his belt, iconic portrayals of characters
like Han Solo and Indiana Jones, and a career that stretches decades, Ford can
proudly show that he does, in fact, have what it takes.
29. Marilyn Monroe: While Monroe’s star
burned out early, she did have a period of great success in her life. Despite a
rough upbringing and being told by modeling agents that she should instead
consider being a secretary, Monroe became a pin-up, model and actress that
still strikes a chord with people today.
30. Oliver Stone: This Oscar-winning
filmmaker began his first novel while at Yale, a project that eventually caused
him to fail out of school. This would turn out to be a poor decision as the text
was rejected by publishers and was not published until 1998, at which time it
was not well-received. After dropping out of school, Stone moved to Vietnam to
teach English, later enlisting in the army and fighting in the war, a battle
that earning two Purple Hearts and helped him find the inspiration for his
later work that often center around war.
Writers and Artists
We’ve all
heard about starving artists and struggling writers, but these stories show
that sometimes all that work really does pay off with success in the long run.
31. Vincent Van Gogh: During his lifetime,
Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to a friend and only for a very
small amount of money. While Van Gogh was never a success during his life, he
plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works.
Today, they bring in hundreds of millions.
32. Emily Dickinson: Recluse and poet Emily
Dickinson is a commonly read and loved writer. Yet in her lifetime she was all
but ignored, having fewer than a dozen poems published out of her almost 1,800
completed works.
33. Theodor Seuss Giesel: Today nearly
every child has read The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham, yet 27 different
publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’s first book To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry
Street.
34. Charles Schultz: Schultz’s Peanuts comic
strip has had enduring fame, yet this cartoonist had every cartoon he submitted
rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Even after high school, Schultz
didn’t have it easy, applying and being rejected for a position working with
Walt Disney.
35. Steven Spielberg: While today
Spielberg’s name is synonymous with big budget, he was rejected from the
University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three
times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to
become a director before finishing. Thirty-five years after starting his
degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and
earn his BA.
36. Stephen King: The first book by this
author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30 rejections, finally causing
King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife fished it out and
encouraged him to resubmit it, and the rest is history, with King now having
hundreds of books published the distinction of being one of the best-selling
authors of all time.
37. Zane Grey: Incredibly popular in the
early 20th century, this adventure book writer began his career as a dentist,
something he quickly began to hate. So, he began to write, only to see
rejection after rejection for his works, being told eventually that he had no
business being a writer and should given up. It took him years, but at 40, Zane
finally got his first work published, leaving him with almost 90 books to his
name and selling over 50 million copies worldwide.
38. J. K. Rowling: Rowling may be rolling
in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but before she published the series of
novels she was nearly penniless, severely depressed, divorced, trying to raise
a child on her own while attending school and writing a novel. Rowling went from
depending on welfare to survive to being one of the richest women in the world
in a span of only five years through her hard work and determination.
39. Monet: Today Monet’s work sells for
millions of dollars and hangs in some of the most prestigious institutions in
the world. Yet during his own time, it was mocked and rejected by the artistic
elite, the Paris Salon. Monet kept at his impressionist style, which caught on
and in many ways was a starting point for some major changes to art that
ushered in the modern era.
40. Jack London: This well-known American
author wasn’t always such a success. While he would go on to publish popular
novels like White Fang and The Call of the Wild, his first story received six
hundred rejection slips before finally being accepted.
41. Louisa May Alcott: Most people are
familiar with Alcott’s most famous work, Little Women. Yet Alcott faced a bit
of a battle to get her work out there and was encouraged to find work as a
servant by her family to make ends meet. It was her letters back home during
her experience as a nurse in the Civil War that gave her the first big break
she needed.
Musicians
While their
music is some of the best selling, best loved and most popular around the world
today, these musicians show that it takes a whole lot of determination to
achieve success.
42. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart began
composing at the age of five, writing over 600 pieces of music that today are
lauded as some of the best ever created. Yet during his lifetime, Mozart didn’t
have such an easy time, and was often restless, leading to his dismissal from a
position as a court musician in Salzberg. He struggled to keep the support of
the aristocracy and died with little to his name.
43. Elvis Presley: As one of the
best-selling artists of all time, Elvis has become a household name even years
after his death. But back in 1954, Elvis was still a nobody, and Jimmy Denny,
manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance
telling him, “You ain’t going nowhere, son.
You ought to go back to driving a truck.”
44. Igor Stravinsky: In 1913 when
Stravinsky debuted his now famous Rite of Spring, audiences rioted, running the
composer out of town. Yet it was this very work that changed the way composers
in the 19th century thought about music and cemented his place in musical
history.
45. The Beatles: Few people can deny the
lasting power of this super group, still popular with listeners around the
world today. Yet when they were just starting out, a recording company told
them no. They were told “we don’t like
their sound, and guitar music is on the way out,” two things the rest of
the world couldn’t have disagreed with more.
46. Ludwig van Beethoven: In his formative
years, young Beethoven was incredibly awkward on the violin and was often so
busy working on his own compositions that he neglected to practice. Despite his
love of composing, his teachers felt he was hopeless at it and would never
succeed with the violin or in composing. Beethoven kept plugging along, however,
and composed some of the best-loved symphonies of all time–five of them while
he was completely deaf.
Athletes
While some
athletes rocket to fame, others endure a path fraught with a little more
adversity, like those listed here.
47. Michael Jordan: Most people wouldn’t
believe that a man often lauded as the best basketball player of all time was
actually cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan didn’t let
this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my
career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to
take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over
again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
48. Stan Smith: This tennis player was
rejected from even being a lowly ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because
event organizers felt he was too clumsy and uncoordinated. Smith went on to
prove them wrong, showcasing his not-so-clumsy skills by winning Wimbledon, U.
S. Open and eight Davis Cups.
49. Babe Ruth: You probably know Babe Ruth
because of his home run record (714 during his career), but along with all
those home runs came a pretty hefty amount of strikeouts as well (1,330 in
all). In fact, for decades he held the record for strikeouts. When asked about
this he simply said, “Every strike brings
me closer to the next home run.”
50. Tom Landry: As the coach of the Dallas
Cowboys, Landry brought the team two Super Bowl victories, five NFC
Championship victories and holds the records for the record for the most career
wins. He also has the distinction of having one of the worst first seasons on
record (winning no games) and winning five or fewer over the next four seasons.
The common
sense point here is simple. Successful people commit to taking personal
responsibility for their career success. They set high goals and do
whatever it takes to achieve them. They also react positively to the
people and events in their lives – especially the negative people and events.
In this
post, I told the stories of 50 well known people who ended up being wildly
successful and well known. Let them be an example for you the next time
you feel like giving up.
That’s my
take on career success and not giving up.
What’s
yours? Do you have any people to add to this list?
If so,
please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us. As always, thanks
for reading.
Bud
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