- Enoch Oyedibu
- Inspiration
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These stories are pointers. Especially for up-and-coming people who are looking up to becoming great in life.
Humans are beings of stories. Our lives are surrounded by activities that later become our stories. Sometimes, these stories are beautiful, many times, they’re heartbreaking. But irrespective of the aesthetics or desolation those stories may bring; all of them inspire us to have a reason, screeching to believe in that dream again.
This is why as far as the world is concerned, there are some individuals who lived before us, who had made our upcoming mistakes, who had taken our upcoming risks, who had failed the same way we would—who, against all odds, finally hit stardom. Their stories are pointers. Especially for up-and-coming people who are looking up to becoming great in life.
Just as Sir Isaac Newton, the famous English scientist, had once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,”—considering his extraordinary accomplishments—one may say climbing on the shoulders of those before us to learn their mistakes, and gain strategies to never repeat those mistakes, are vital.
Based on this precipice, it is noteworthy to examine the backdrop narratives of the following five iconic persons who achieved extraordinary breaks in their respective careers and businesses. In all walks of life, their stories are applicably inspiring and motivating. Let’s dive.
- Jack Canfield – Chicken Soup For The Soul Co-Creator
The series Chicken Soup for the Soul was created by Jack Canfield who remains an highly motivating speaker, a skilled coach, and an immensely inspiring writer who wrote The Success Principles.
More than 130 publishers were approached by Jack and his co-author Mark Victor Hansen to publish the first Chicken Soup for the Soul. However, they all expressed disinterest and claimed that nobody “wants to read 100 inspirational stories.”
They received more than a hundred rejections from agents, but they remained committed to seeing the book through to publication.
Fortunately, they persisted and never gave up until a small Florida publisher picked up their book.
Over 250 Chicken Soup for the Soul books have been published to date, with over 500 MILLION copies sold globally. They would not have made millions of dollars and the world would not have read these inspirational stories if they had given up.
Their stories taught the tale of perseverance, reinforcing that we should never give up in our life pursuit.
- McDonald’s – Ray Croc
McDonald’s remains one of the greatest restaurants in San Bernardino, thanks to Ray Croc.
Ray was a struggling milkshake machine salesman in his 50s who had a comfortable life but yearned for more. After getting to know the brothers who founded McDonald’s, he persuaded them to use a franchise model to expand the company. This prompted him to embark on a massive expansion, purchasing the land on which every location is built and developing into the modern-day McDonald’s. He in essence bought their company but helped them to maintain their name.
This breeds an unforgettable life lesson of persistent seeing of a bigger picture. Dream big! McDonald’s would have remained a single burger restaurant if it had not been for the vision to expand the franchise.
- Alibaba – Jack Ma
With an estimated net worth of $39 billion, Jack Ma is the richest person in Asia and the CEO of Alibaba, one of the biggest companies in China.
However, he was not a genius who founded this incredible business overnight. He spent his entire life being rejected.
He was turned down for thirty jobs (including KFC and the police). He also applied to Harvard ten times and was turned down each time.
However, he realised the potential when he came across the internet in the middle of the 1990s. Despite all of the rejection he had previously experienced, he went on to found multiple companies, leading to the birth of Alibaba.
One of the biggest lessons here is, aside from confidence, one needs to leverage opportunities society and problems around us have to offer. Had Jack followed the advice of others, he would have given in to rejection and led a life of average success. Rather, he persisted, created a remarkable enterprise, and positively influences millions of lives daily through a leverage of the internet he built on courageously.
The best part? He gave a commencement speech at Harvard, the university that turned him down ten times.
- WhatsApp – Jan Koum
WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and was sold to Facebook for a 19 billion dollar sum. But Koum was not that genius. In the impoverished Ukraine of his childhood, Koum was without running water.
He was almost hired at Facebook after discovering his skills in Silicon Valley, but he was passed over in the final interview. Rather than pouting, Jan went on to create WhatsApp.
Jan is the perfect example of perseverance and hard work.
- Walt Disney
While everyone knows the iconic brand of Disney, the story of how Walt Disney created the empire is very inspiring. As a young man, Walt Disney was fired from a local newspaper as his boss thought he lacked creativity. After a failed animation company went under he was barely able to pay his bills and even ate dog food to survive.
With his last few dollars, Walt Disney made his way to Hollywood to try and make it big. Unfortunately, his early time in Hollywood was just as bad. He was told Mickey Mouse would fail, faced constant rejection and seemed destined to never succeed.
But Walt persisted and went on to grow the company with amusement parks, feature films, and is known as a cultural icon.
Read Also: Why Your Mental Health Still Sucks Despite all you know
Enoch Oyedibu
I am a writer and investigative journalist who specialises in literary criticism and underrepresented narratives. Among other publications, I have been featured in Business Day Nigeria, TheICIR, Platform Times and Daily Nigerian. Right now, I work as a full-time staff writer for Unconventional Magazine.
