Forging the cornerstone of success is not a straight road, and you can ask anyone who may have mired their hands at making a name for themselves.
There is no such guaranteed formula for success that can be followed, but yet, one can be inspired by the stories of several prominent pioneers – some of whose knees were scraped by the scorching rock-bottom when they encountered massive roadblocks on their path to victory.
Do you believe in the famous saying, “Work hard with the right spirit without worrying about the fruit of your efforts.”? That’s precisely how some of the most brilliant minds in history came to the fore. Whether by a mélange of sharp intuition, grit and business talent or exceptional circumstances, innumerable entrepreneurs have time and again proved that stories of success begin with patience, humility and most important – faith in oneself.
The Secret On How To Become Successful In Life: Tips From Billionaires:
A common myth about billionaires is that they are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Plain stereotypical and untrue. Success is a difficult journey to grow from, not a leisure destination. Here are a few secrets of self-made super-rich people that will change your mindset on success and wealth.
Read, read and read:
Staying up-to-date on industry developments will help shape goals. One can never stop learning and the first thing that a successful billionaire like Warren Buffett would tell you is that reading is the most valuable source of power and knowledge. He hails it as the holy grail and reads up to 500 pages per day, considering that the most essential quality of an investor is temperament over intellect. Investors need to expand their horizons by not centering themselves with or against the crowd.
“Work like there is someone else working 24 hours of the day to take it all away from you.”
– Billionaire Mark Cuban on valuing time
Make mistakes but take responsibility:
To err is to be human. When you make a mistake, own up to it and fix it. Your subordinates and superiors need to be able to count on you to follow through on your commitments. It’s all in the grit and determination one has, to be honest with themselves.
Prioritize your mental well-being as well:
Your head needs to be in the right space and waking up early to spend time contemplating your journey in the quiet AM, can transform your mindset. Every successful billionaire swears by exercising regularly, sleeping well and taking care of their physical and mental health. Mogul Oprah Winfrey advocates for meditation strongly and created a 21-Day digital audio meditation series with Deepak Chopra in which each recording heartens introspection.
Be productive with strong ethics and discipline:
Be eager to take the initiative to seek opportunities to lean towards your goals, diligently. Commit to routines, structure a growth plan to meet deadlines and be willing to immerse yourself completely. Many billionaires power through their struggles by training their minds to focus on the important and limiting distractions.
“I have experienced all of the disadvantages required for success.”
– Larry Ellison, College Dropout, Self-taught Founder of Oracle.
Inspiring influences in the surrounding:
Billionaires abide by extraordinary standards for people around them and don’t engage their energy with toxic people. They devote themselves to seeking positive people because they motivate and inspire to help one stay on course.
“It’s absolutely better to hang out with people better than you – because you will drift in that direction.”
– Warren Buffett, ‘Oracle of Omaha’, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
From Failure To Success: Revered Success Stories:
In this feature, we bestow 5 Success Stories of trailblazers across industries, who transcended from rags to riches.
Oprah Winfrey Success Story:
Television Host, Entrepreneur, Actress, and Philanthropist.
No one could have thought that Oscar-nominated Oprah Gail Winfrey was raised by a single teenage mother with odd jobs and faced a difficult childhood with repeated sexual abuse. Nevertheless, she was relentless and ambitious.
At twelve, she landed in Nashville to live with her father, briefly and made speeches at churches and social gatherings which once earned her $500. A vision synchronized for Winfrey and she decided to be paid to talk.
Her father swiveled her life by being stern with her education and there, she landed her foremost gig at CBS as Nashville’s first African-American female co-anchor of the evening news.
In January 1984, Winfrey took over A.M Chicago, which was not performing well and took the liberty to transform the underlying theme of the show from ‘traditional women’s issues’ to controversial and debatable topics. By September 1985, the show was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show and the rest is history.
“The more you praise and celebrate life, the more there is in your life to celebrate.”
As the highest-paid entertainer in the world, Winfrey’s real-time net worth according to Forbes is $2.5 billion and as a philanthropist, she has made generous donations to several charitable institutions such as the United Negro College Fund, Tennessee State University and the Harold Washington Library.
An epitome of courage and women empowerment, Winfrey is one of the most influential people of the 21st Century and a true success story as the first African-American woman with her own production company, Harpo Studios and television network, OWN.
Life Lesson & Wisdom: Never Give Up.
Steven Spielberg Success Story:
Director, Writer, Producer, and Philanthropist.
Three-time Academy Award winner, Steven Allan Spielberg has created a lasting impression in the history of cinema by spending more than five decades in the industry. He is renowned for his love for storytelling through his critically acclaimed Sci-fi genre films such as E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, The Shawshank Redemption, and Indiana Jones.
Spielberg shot to fame after his film Jaws, which was viewed by 67 million people in the U.S. on its initial release, became the highest-grossing summer blockbuster of 1975.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1946, Spielberg experienced the learning disability dyslexia and was dropped out of his school, but failure did nothing to crush his dreams.
At ten, he filmed adventures with his friends and charged for home viewings. He was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theatre, Film and Television (USC), thrice. Spielberg dropped out of another school to pursue directing and after grossing $8.5 billion from his directed films, USC awarded him an honorary degree and later, even became a trustee there.
After failing to enroll in USC, Spielberg got the opportunity to work as an unpaid intern in the editing department of Universal Studios. Whilst working for Universal, his short film Amblin landed him a 7-year directorial contract with the Studios and proclaimed him as the youngest director with a long-term contract.
Spielberg venerated Alfred Hitchcock for his ingenuity and artistry in wielding riveting suspense in his movies and later, Spielberg went on to incorporate the same in his writing and direction.
Spielberg is now the owner of his production company, Amblin Entertainment, and a co-founder of the prestigious DreamWorks SKG Studios. He did not collect his salary for his own 1993 Oscar-winning “Schindler’s List.”
With a net worth currently, an incredible $4 billion according to Forbes, Spielberg is an active and benevolent philanthropist, who supports multiple causes such as the Starbright Foundation (chronic illnesses) and Shoah Foundation (preserving testimonies of the Holocaust survivors).
Life Lesson & Wisdom: Don’t ever stop dreaming. It’s never too late.
James Dyson Success Story:
Industrial Designer, British Inventor, Farmer, and Philanthropist.
The revolutionary Sir James Dyson is an entrepreneur, British inventor, and Industrial designer who dedicated his life to developing products using technology to solve radical problems. With an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion according to Forbes, Dyson is the second-wealthiest person in the UK.
He founded the multinational technology company, Dyson, which is currently present in over 84 global markets, with a majority team of scientists and engineers who have achieved breakthroughs by researching robotics, AI, material science, solid-state batteries, purification and machine learning. Dyson employs about 5,800 engineers around the world and invests $10 million every week in product development.
Of his passion for functional design and engineering, one would think he is an academic scholar or a prized pupil of any of the notable engineering universities, but that is not the case. Dyson attended the Byam Shaw School of Art in London and pursued Architectural Design at the Royal College of Art.
In 1974, James invented the world’s first unconventional plastic Ballbarrow, instead of a wheelbarrow. Frustrated with his household’s vacuum cleaner which was fitted with a non-reusable bag that would frequently clog, he invented the world’s first dual-cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner. But it was not an overnight success.
It took Dyson four years and 5,127 failed prototypes to finalize the design and yet, other vacuum manufacturers considered his invention to be unworthy of investment. Undeterred by the failures and rejections, Dyson started his own manufacturing facility to produce the design. In 1993, Dyson was a full-fledged business.
Today, Dyson is a pioneer of bladeless fans, highly-efficient hair dryers and hair stylers, air purifiers, low-energy cordless vacuums and heaters.
Dyson has previously bemoaned the scarcity of engineers in the UK and as an ardent advocate of education, he established the James Dyson Foundation in 2002 to inspire more people to chase innovative engineering, sustainability, medical fields and science.
James also founded the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2017 with a unique educational degree where students undertake a full-time salaried role in the engineering team of Dyson along with learning.
He also believes in and encourages biodiversity and innovative farming via his commercial and efficient farming business, Dyson Farming founded in 2013, which drives sustainability in the agriculture sector of the UK.
Life Lesson & Wisdom: Believe in yourself, persistently and fearlessly.
Elizabeth Arden Success Story:
Canadian-American Businesswoman, Innovator.
An unprecedented legend in the history of the cosmetic, beauty and fragrance empire, Florence Nightingale Graham was born in a patriarchal centennial of 1884 in Ontario to a family who could just make ends meet. Amongst the odd jobs she had to undertake to support her family, Miss Graham studied nursing and was intrigued by a lotion used in the treatment of burns. She then dropped out of nursing school and faced tremendous difficulties in starting her own stint in partnership with Miss Elizabeth Hubbard. After six months, the business failed but Miss Graham was unstoppable.
In 1910, her empire began in New York City, where she launched the first Red Door salon on Fifth Avenue with the moniker, Elizabeth Arden, Inc by borrowing $6,000.
By the 1930s, Red Door salons had blossomed in a majority of the fashion capitals of the world. There were only three names of America well-known around the globe, then: Coca-Cola, Singer Sewing Machines and Elizabeth Arden.
The chic connoisseur, Miss Arden’s fundamental mantra was, “To be splendidly beautiful was the birthright of every woman.”
Miss Arden devotedly sought a scientific approach to skincare formulations and advocated the concept of Total Beauty. Her vision was to innovate products, services and packaging that women desired such as her classic Eight Hour Cream or her signature Fifth Avenue fragrance.
As one the most successful beauty businesses to catapult into the graces of fame, Elizabeth Arden, Inc. exceeded $1 billion in annual sales with the long list of Miss Arden’s inventions. Ardena Skin tonic was the first company to incorporate its founder’s name into a product; Miss Arden introduced the concept of ‘Makeover’ to American women with her pioneered eye makeup. The world’s first travel-size beauty products were developed by Miss Arden who sent out trained professionals to travel to people to demonstrate cosmetics.
Life Lesson & Wisdom: Don’t underestimate yourself.
Nick Woodman Success Story:
American Businessman
The idiomatic expression, “Third time’s a charm’ proved literal to a surfer-turned-CEO Nicholas Woodman who confronted massive failures in his previous start-ups. His net worth is estimated to be $300 million today.
Woodman was a zealous surfer who quit varsity football to sell surf T-shirts and attended the University of San Diego in California for its vicinity to the vibrant beach. After graduating, he gave himself until 30 to invent a product, or fearfully take up a real job. The fear of doing the conventional job, motivated Woodman to become an entrepreneur.
His first failure was a website, EmpowerAll.com which sold electronic goods for a markup of less than $2 and relied on the high volume of sales to make nominal profits.
His second feeble attempt at failure was a startup called Funbug, a short-lived online gaming site which invited investor money worth $3.9 million. Woodman admitted that he was just looking for a business to launch and Funbug was not something he was passionate about. Upon losing investors, he took an extended surfing trip over five months.
His third and final attempt at being a business mogul was on the roll. While catching perfect swells, Woodman and his friends wished they could somehow capture their talent, if they ever chose to ‘Go pro.’ The idea dawned on entrepreneurial Nick for a wearable camera that could be strapped to the wrist, and GoPro was born.
Not intending to be a fiasco, Woodman’s fear of failure pushed him to work for up to 18 hours a day, constantly.
After borrowing $200,000 from his father for designing prototypes, Woodman and his wife, Jill worked on raising more funds by selling seashell necklaces. In 2004, the first 35mm film camera garnered much-deserved attention from the sports industry and slowly, GoPro became mainstream.
On solving problems, Woodman said, “People buy solutions because when I was racing, I strapped my GoPro to my car which synced naturally and other racers asked where I bought it. I said, “Hey! I made that!”
Woodman rose to fame, but the quick success and mismanagement of resources at GoPro also led to its spiraling. After the IPO launch, the company endured two years of losses. With no pivot required, sometimes, maintaining the core ideas is essential and Woodman learnt this, the hard way.
Life Lesson & Wisdom: Always follow your passion, but don’t be too hasty to achieve milestones.
Final Words:
With each to his own, everyone ought to pursue ambitions but there is no certain timeline, age is no limit and there is no conventional or overnight shot to glory with a ‘here’s how.’
It is essential to set goals for yourself and journal your milestones to see how far you’ve come from where you began. Prosperous CEOs maintain a discipline of following mantras or resolutions of success, ardently. Never be afraid to take risks because any circumstance in life can reward you with only two things – you either succeed or you learn what not to do again, from your failure.
