The first steps on the path to success are often taken in young adulthood, and many of the most successful people in the world can trace their life’s journey back to a single instance, incident or introduction in their youth. Today’s millennials might get some inspiration and insights from these millionaires’ early endeavors. Here are 10 people whose success defined their industries, and a look at the pivotal moments that changed their young lives.
Read: 13 Things Millennials Should Know Before Their First Real Job
Richard Branson: Launched a Music Mail-Order Startup
http://ift.tt/1ctbhms
Richard Branson
Virgin Group founder and billionaire Sir Richard Branson struggled throughout his schooling and forewent college. Instead, Branson followed his entrepreneurial instinct that told him he, with some friends, could sell records cheaper than the market average if they sold them directly to customers, according to Bio. They started a mail-order business when Branson was just 20, which they soon parlayed into a discount record shop, then a studio, and eventually a record label that signed then-controversial acts like the Sex Pistols.
Virgin is now one of the most high-profile companies in the world, with dozens of investments and subsidiaries. It all started because Branson identified a problem in the market (high record costs) and positioned himself as the solution. The takeaway? Look for things that bug you about an industry you love, come up with a solution and work hard until the money rolls in.
Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Mark Cuban: Got Fired and Inspired to Be His Own Boss
http://ift.tt/1ctbhmu
Mark Cuban
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban learned a life lesson at 25 that made him fully commit to starting his own business. When a lazy, egotistical boss told him not to chase a client, he did it anyway. The boss fired him on the spot for disobeying — even though Cuban would have earned the company $15,000.
“[B]eing fired from that job was the determining factor in my business life,” Cuban wrote in an article for Forbes. “I decided then and there to start my own company.”
Ever since, Cuban has spent his life trying to do the opposite of everything that boss represented, making the unmotivated, ego-driven supervisor a kind of reverse mentor. He shuns titles like “CEO,” and values hard work and good sales numbers over everything else. Today, the millennials who, like Cuban, follow their instincts, take chances and back up their belief in themselves with hard work will likely be the ones who go the furthest.
Related: How “Shark Tank” Star Mark Cuban Became a Big Fish
Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Sam Walton: Worked as a Retail Sales Trainee
http://ift.tt/1ctbje5
Sam Walton
When Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died in 1992, his namesake store was the giant of the American retail landscape. But Walton’s customer-first focus started early, with his 1940 retail job at a JCPenney store, reports Entrepreneur magazine. As a 22-year-old sales trainee Walton put the customer first, often leaving paperwork undone — Walton’s boss even told him that he wasn’t cut out for retail. Despite this, Walton’s success was proven by the extra $25 in commissions he earned each month (equal to around $420 today).
“There is only one boss: the customer,” Walton said. “And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
Magnates and moguls are often noted for their extravagant lifestyles, but old-school entrepreneurs like Walton often viewed money only as a means to further their enterprise. Today’s graduates should never let their ambition for wealth and fortune corrupt the hungry, young person who strove to earn it in the first place.
Photo: jessicakirsh / Shutterstock.com
Steve Jobs: Founded Apple Out of His Garage
http://ift.tt/1ctbhmy
Steve Jobs
The late Steve Jobs was arguably the most important inventor and executive to emerge from the modern tech revolution, and certainly one of the most prominent. But in 1976, 21-year-old Jobs was just a young college dropout messing around with new technology in his family’s garage with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who was far more experienced in computers design, chips and electronics. Today, Apple is the most valuable businesses in the world, reports CNN Money— but it all started with Jobs as a curious young man.
No one learns it all in college (or outside of college), and young people should consider themselves sponges who are just beginning their real education. Surround yourself with people who share your passions, and make sure those people are more experienced than you, more advanced than you and more knowledgeable than you. You can’t learn if you’re the smartest person in the room.
Related: If You’re Fired, Follow in Steve Jobs’ Footsteps
Photo: Annette Shaff / Shutterstock.com
Bill Gates: Cobbled Together Software for Hardware He’d Never Seen
http://ift.tt/1K40PiP
Bill Gates
In 1974, Harvard student Bill Gates read an article in Popular Electronics about a new computer made by a small company in New Mexico. Gates and a friend contacted the company and said they were working on software designed for the computer, a lie meant to gauge the company’s interest, according to Bio. When the computer manufacturer responded with a request for a demonstration, Gates and his friend scrambled to write the software code in the Harvard computer lab. When the program was tested for the first time in Albuquerque the software worked perfectly — even though neither Gates nor his friend had ever seen one of the computers in real life.
Every young entrepreneur needs someone to take a chance on them, but that chance must be earned. Work hard to create something of value, so when an opportunity presents itself, you can bring something to the table that makes you indispensable.
Photo: JStone / Shutterstock.com
Oprah Winfrey: Got Demoted, But Stayed Open to New Opportunities
http://ift.tt/1K40PiR
Oprah Winfrey
In her early 20s, Oprah Winfrey got a promotion to be a co-anchor of a Baltimore news station — a huge accomplishment for someone so young. Yet Winfrey proved too green for the responsibility and after just a few months was demoted. Soon another opportunity came up in daytime talk show, however, and while Winfrey initially resisted the idea because she’d been focused on a career in news and reporting, she decided to try it. Immediately she loved it.
When her local TV talk show won national syndication in 1986, the world of daytime talk television was on a steep downward slide toward trashy subject matter and guest exploitation. Winfrey refused to cave to the trend and instead ignored tabloid subjects and built her theme around empowerment and self improvement. Her warm persona and sensitive handling of difficult subject matter earned her millions of fans and — eventually — billions of dollars.
Break trends, don’t follow them — especially if the masses are clamoring for something that doesn’t sit right with you. Like Oprah Winfrey, grads should steer their talents in a direction that gels with their sense of values. Long-term success isn’t built by selling out early.
Related: First Jobs of Billionaires Like Oprah Michael Kors
Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Kanye West: Survived a Devastating Car Accident
http://ift.tt/1K40NaG
Kanye West
In October 2002, rap superstar Kanye West’s career — and life — were almost cut short. West was in a devastating car accident that forced the budding musician to undergo reconstructive surgery, including a broken jaw that had to be wired shut. Worst, he had no health insurance and had to pay costs out of pocket. A few weeks later, he recorded his first single “Through the Wire,” which he rapped through his broken jaw, reports Rolling Stone. The song would appear on his debut mixtape.
Reflecting on the accident, which occurred after a lackluster studio session, Kanye realized that his legacy could have ended with that mediocre work. “Now when I go into the studio, I act like this could possibly be my last day,” Kanye said in an interview with USA Today. Every millennial should remember that the future belongs to them, but they need to give it their all in the here and now, too.
Photo: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
Eminem: Produced a Failed Album Before Getting Picked Up By Dre
http://ift.tt/1K40NaI
Eminem
Marshall Mathers — also known by his stage name Eminem — came from a broken home and had a troubled childhood, that played out in public housing projects and culminated with the aspiring rapper dropping out of high school at 17 after failing ninth grade three times, according to Bio. Mathers found a passion for words and rapping, however, and spent years verbally sparring in the fiercely-competitive Detroit rap battle scene. But his multiple attempts to get signed by a record label failed, as did his independent album.
But Eminem kept at it and in 1998 his EP landed with Dr. Dre, a rap legend and super producer who was also an early hero of Mathers’, reports Rolling Stone, Dr. Dre listened to the demo, recognized Eminem’s impressive talent right away and signed him. Eminem went on to become one of the most critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful rappers of all time.
Through years of rejection, poverty, violence and adversity, the only thing Eminem really had turned out to be the only thing he needed — persistence. When they’re ready to give up, millennials can look to Eminem as an example of what can be achieved if they keep at it.
Photo: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com
Samuel L. Jackson: Participated in Civil Rights Activist
http://ift.tt/1ctbjuv
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson is the highest-grossing actor of all time, accounting for a combined $7.4 billion in film revenue, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But in his 20s, Samuel L. Jackson was a young activist before he became an actor. In the politically-charged year of 1969, Jackson became involved in the black power movement, according to Bio. He was expelled from Morehouse College after locking several members of the college’s board of trustees in a building for several days to protest the lack of black board members. Later that year, Jackson watched a performance by the Negro Ensemble Company and was inspired to become an actor.
“If you have an opportunity to use your voice, you should use it,” Samuel L. Jackson has said. Ambition is at its best when it is guided by a moral compass, and Jackson’s childhood in the segregated South formed the foundation of his morals as a young student. Today’s youth have strong personal convictions; one Salon columnist called millennials “pragmatic idealists” for their strong beliefs that motivate them to action. Young people should use their idealistic leanings to further causes they believe in and find work that works with those passions.
Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Madonna: Dropped Out and Took Odd Jobs to Pursue Singing
http://ift.tt/1K40PiV
Madonna
Madonna attributes the wildness and subversiveness that defined her youth to the loss of her mother to cancer at five years old. But she also credits this void for her relentless pursuit of perfection during her school years, which she channeled into academic excellence and obsessive discipline as a dancer, reports Bio. Her work ethic caught the eye of the choreographer who discovered her and who convinced her to move to New York City to pursue a career in show business. In her early 20s, Madonna took on a range of odd jobs to support herself and worked tirelessly to launch her singing career, and soon found success.
No matter what the industry, no matter what the business, no matter what the circumstance, there will never be a substitute for hard work and discipline. They are the traits that are essential to succeeding in any pursuit.
Photo: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Where Millionaires Like Oprah and Mark Cuban Were in Their 20s
This article by Andrew Lisa first appeared on GoBankingRates.com and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.
No comments:
Post a Comment