Experience in failure can be the first step on the road to success.
That’s not just a rejected motivational poster slogan, it’s also the truth for many entrepreneurs who cracked the business game after they hit a wall of rejection and failure.
With thanks to Admailer, a new promotional tool that drives sales for local businesses, here are some folks who could have done with a little help when they were starting off.
Walt Disney
Disney, the man whose company makes the movies you pretend you don’t cry to, wasn’t always a renowned businessman.
During the 20s, he set up an advertising film company, Laugh-O-Gram, which had the same amount of success as my invention, The Waterproof Teabag(™).
Laugh-O-Gram went bust and Disney started *ahem* Disney. The rest is history.
Pic via fdzeta
Larry King
King’s worth is now estimated to be around $150m.
Not bad for a guy who filed for bankruptcy in 1978 with a total of $352,000 in debt.
Soon after he was offered a late night radio show on CNN.
That show, entitled ‘Larry King Live’, made the presenter a household name and helped him make his fortune.
Milton Hershey
Hershey’s: the American chocolate brand you buy if there is no Cadbury’s in stock, was started by Milton Hershey after his first candy shop went bust.
Now, isn’t that a sweet story… we’ll grab our coat.
Henry Ford
Ford always had the drive to succeed (ok, we’ll actually get our coat this time) but his fortune didn’t come until the end of a long and tough road.
It was so tough that he had to file for bankruptcy. Twice.
H.J. HEINZ
We guess it just took a while for H.J Heinz’s ambition to ketchup with his success (we’re not even sorry for that one).
When Heinz was just 25, he made a horseradish sauce and his faith in it almost ruined him financially.
Thankfully, he came back from the brink and created one of the most iconic brands in the world.
George Foreman
The very name ‘George Foreman’ makes us hungry for bacon. Years before the boxer’s name was associated with grills, he was a very, very good boxer, but a very poor financial planner.
Foreman is now worth $250,000,000. Not bad for a man who hadn’t a penny to his name during the early 80s.
Francis Ford Coppola
Success is relative. Francis Ford Coppola was collecting academy awards for fun when he filed for bankruptcy in 1982.
His road to financial ruin began with a failed musical. He then borrowed money off his mammy (everybody: “awwwh”) to get into the wine business and his financial fortune turned around.
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln declared bankruptcy in 1833 after borrowing way too much money off his mates.
Now he appears on US currency.
Nothing like a bit of irony to start your morning with.
Kim Basinger
In the early 90s, Basinger was adored by millions. Unfortunately, her debtors weren’t among them.
She filed for bankruptcy, but with a net worth of approximately $34m, she seems to be doing OK now.
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