10 Inspiring Success Stories
“Your success and happiness lie in you”- Helen Keller. This quote says a lot about the way we live our life. Everyone looks towards the external sources for success without knowing the key to success is in their own selves. It is really important to know that success takes years of hard work and failure. Focussing on positivity sure is important but so is looking at the things that made that happen. In this blog, we have curated a list of 10 inspiring success stories and covered both the successes as well as failures in journeys.
Must Read: Top 10 Motivational TED Talks for Students
Steve Jobs
Source: Wikimedia
“Your time is limited. Don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
Steve Jobs is one of the most famous names in the entrepreneurial community. His story is one of the most inspiring success stories in the world. Today, everyone knows about his company Apple but no one actually believed such a technology could be created at that time. Steve Jobs was a visionary who believed in himself and decided to give everything towards building his company. He was adopted by a working-class couple at the time of his birth. Steve, being a born genius, developed a taste for machines and computers very early in his life. However, if we look at Steve Jobs’s education, formal education soon started to bore him. Although, he went off to college but quit only after the first semester. He then took up a job at Atari from where he saved up some money and traveled to India. He stayed there for spiritual purposes and returned home after 7 months as a Buddhist and led a simple life. However, soon after that, he started working on a computer project with Steve Wozniak and they created their first apple product in a garage. This is how the largest IT company in the world was built. Steve Jobs has created a legacy today.
Source: YouTube
Explore: Top Lessons to Raise a Future CEO
J.K Rowling
Source: Wikimedia
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
We now move on to J.K Rowling whose story is the most notable inspiring success story ever. The person is responsible for the creation of Harry Potter, who is the most iconic and inspiring fictional character of all time. J.K Rowling is one of the most renowned authors of our time. Everyone knows the fantastic world of Harry Potter today but not everyone knows about the person who brought that world into life. After the death of her mother, she moved to Portugal in order to teach English. She married a man there and had a daughter with him. However, after some time both of them parted ways and filed for a divorce. This was a turning point in her life as she moved to a different city with her daughter and three chapters of Harry Potter that she wrote before. J.K Rowling even suffered depression, anxiety during this time. After about two years she finally completed Harry Potter which was rejected by 12 publications. Soon after, the book was accepted and published and the rest is history. Her story teaches her that no matter what life throws at us, the solution is always inside us.
Source: YouTube
Michael Jordan
Source: Wikimedia
“If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit!”
From being rejected for the basketball team to becoming a basketball legend, MJ has seen it all making his story on our list of inspiring success stories. Michael Jordan was rejected from the basketball team in his high school due to his height. However, his liking for the sport made him even more determined to excel at the sport. He used to go reach the gym before anyone else and practice shots. Soon after the opening of a spot on the basketball team, he was selected. However, he still did lack the skills but he carried on anyway and worked every day towards perfection. He gained a reputation as a valuable player of the basketball team which eventually led him to the NBA and become the basketball legend that we know him to be.
Must Read: How to deal with failures!
Walt Disney
Source: US National Archives
“First, think. Second, dream. Third, believe. And finally, dare”
Next on our list of inspiring success stories is the story of Walter Elias Disney known as the world’s greatest animator didn’t have it so easy from the start. He used to be a daydreamer back in his school days and used to draw random sketches. After serving as a red cross volunteer in World War 1, he decided to make cartoon motion pictures and started a cartoon company at the age of 19. He failed miserably and went bankrupt at the age of 22 and also got fired from his newspaper agency for lacking imagination. After that, he went bankrupt several times and the company was completely shattered in 1928. That’s when he created his most famous cartoon character Mickey mouse. Everyone knows what happened next.
Colonel Sanders
Source: Pixy
“One has to remember that every failure can be a stepping stone to something better.”
Colonel Harber Sanders is famously known for his creation of Kentucky Fried Chicken today but not many people know the struggles he went through in order to make this happen and transform his story into the most inspiring success stories in the world. He continuously faced rejection in his life. His father passed away while he was just 6 years old which left him to cook for his siblings. Soon after that he dropped out of school and started working full time. He got a job in the army by faking his age from where he was discharged after a year. He got fired from his next job as well. Later, he founded a ferry boat company and failed at that as well. He started selling his fried chicken at a service station at the age of 40. However, as he started growing, he had a shootout with his competitor. He started a motel, four years later which got closed again due to world war 2. He tried to franchise his restaurant after that and was rejected thousands of times before his ‘secret recipe’ of KFC got selected. After years of failures, Colonel Sanders grew KFC at such a place that he sold it off for 2 million dollars. Even after facing so many rejections in his life, he didn’t give up and the world knows him as the face of KFC today.
Must Read: Types Of Entrepreneurs You Must Know About!
Henry Ford
Source: Pxhere
“Don’t find fault, find a remedy. Anybody can complain.”
Henry Ford is the most noted entrepreneur in the automobile industry. He completely revolutionized the automobile industry and made sure his story is one of the most inspiring success stories in the world. After launching his company, he went for funding from a businessman who later dissolved the company leaving him with nothing. However, he was determined to what he had started and aimed for perfection. He went back to the same investor again and requested him to give another chance but he failed again. Even after these consecutive failures he didn’t give up and finally introduced the Model A in 1904 and then he never looked back.
Stephen King
Source: Wikimedia
“Isn’t bravery always sort of beautiful?”
Stephen King is one of the most famous writers in the world and has one of the most inspiring success stories ever. The author is best known for writing in the genre of science fiction, horror, and suspense. Stephen had a knack for writing since his childhood and was seen contributing articles for his school magazine. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree and started working as a teacher alongside selling his short stories to different magazines. He was working on completing his novel ‘Carrie’, but he left it in between due to depression and anxiety. However, his wife’s encouragement played an important part in his life which made him several successful books, some of which even turned into movies. He is the writer of the greatest movie of all time, ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’ Despite his failures and struggles he believed in his skills as a writer and continued on the path towards greatness.
Thomas Edison
Source: Wikimedia
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”
There’s no need to introduce who Thomas Edison is. He was the greatest scientist of his time and also the inventor of the bulb. If we were to look at the education of Thomas Elva Edison, he was a mentally unstable child and was dropped out of school because of this. However, he was a hard worker and never gave up on his dreams and made sure that his hard work made his story one of the most inspiring success stories in the world. His mother was also a true warrior, who showed her full confidence in Thomas and never let him down. He used to sell fruits and newspapers at the age of 12. He continued to work on different inventions, and after inventing the telegraph, he set up a laboratory in New York. Before inventing Bulb, he failed thousands of times but continued and finally made the bulb’s invention.
Also Read: Famous Inventions and Inventors
Dhirubhai Ambani
Courtesy: The Print
“If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.”
Next on our list of inspiring success stories is Dhirubhai Ambani. The story of Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of reliance is a true rag to riches story. He was born in a poor family and worked his way up the ladder. He moved to Yemen at the age of 16 to work at a petrol pump. He returned to India in 1958 and started his own textile business. Working in this business he got good marketing knowledge. After he ended this textile business he launched Reliance Corporation in 1996, which is today known as the Reliance Industries. There is also a scholarship in his name now by the name of Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarship.
Steven Spielberg
Source: Wikimedia
“I don’t dream at night, I dream at day. I dream all day. I’m dreaming for a living.”
Last but not least we have the story of Steven Spielberg on our list of inspiring success stories. He was a filmmaker who was rejected from the USC School of Theater, Film, and Television three times due to bad grades in his school. However, this did not stop him from carrying on with his dream of becoming a filmmaker. He went on delivering great movies and even won Oscar Awards three times consecutively. Even after facing so many failures in life, he delivered some of the best films to the film industry. He is known for blockbusters like Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Color Purple, etc. after being rejected from USC, today he is one of the school’s board of directors.
Must Read: Motivational Movies for Students
FAQs
Who has a good success story? 1. Arianna Huffington
2. Bill Gates
3. George Steinbrenner
4. Walt Disney
5. Steve Jobs How do you write an inspirational story? 1. Develop empathy. Before you can write inspirational stories, you must have a good understanding of how others feel.
2. Make characters and concepts that people can relate to.
3. Deliver the conflict in a positive light.
4. Give people hope.
5. Finish with some advice. Who are the inspiring successful entrepreneurs of India? 1. Dhirubhai Ambani – The Man Who Made Reliance Industries
2. Karsanbhai Patel – The Man Behind ‘Washing Powder Nirma’
3. Kalpana Saroj – The Unbreakable Woman (CEO, Kamani Tubes)
4. Ramesh Babu – The Barber With A Rolls Royce
5. Patricia Narayan – FICCI Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2017
6. Narayan Murthy: The man behind global giant Infosys
7. Sunil Bharti Mittal: Connecting India
All these stories were the most inspiring success stories and show us that nothing is impossible in life. Are you confused regarding your career path? We at Leverage Edu would love the opportunity to guide you through the process of choosing the best career path for yourself. Sign up for a free session with us now!
13 Business Success Stories From Entrepreneurs to Inspire You
The path to starting your own business isn’t always smooth—just ask any entrepreneur. Sometimes, it helps to hear some business success stories, especially when you’re mired in the details of writing a business plan, getting a business loan, or finding a space. Even the most successful businesses—small, medium, and large alike—went through their share of challenges. And it can be so helpful to remind yourself you’re not crazy for feeling overwhelmed.
When you’re deep in the weeds of starting your business, it can be easy to think about quitting, but learning about other’s success can help lift your spirits. To comfort and inspire you, take a look at these 13 business success stories and what you can take away from each to inform your own business decisions.
1. Spark Vision, founded by MaryBeth Hyland
The business success story:
MaryBeth Hyland started her company Spark Vision to help businesses create and maintain collaborative and inclusive office cultures. Specializing in millennial engagement, Hyland and Spark Vision offer workshops to help offices foster collaboration and connections among workers.
A child of abuse, Hyland has faced a lot of challenges to her self-worth and confidence. She uses her survival daily as a way to motivate her to succeed in business, drawing on the experience of her past to connect with the people she works with. According to her website, Hyland says she thinks that her experience makes her more successful in her company.
The takeaway:
Everyone has a past—and not all are good. But whatever you’ve gone through, using your background and experience to inform your business can be great, even if your experiences aren’t. In Hyland’s case, she uses a troubled childhood to motivate and drive her, and her business benefits from it.
2. Zoom, founded by Eric Yuan
The business success story:
Eric Yuan came to the U.S. from China in the mid ’90s to pursue the internet boom—but it took a while to get here. The first eight times he applied for a visa, he was denied. Finally, on the ninth attempt, he was approved, but the process lasted two years.
In 2012, after working for a Silicon Valley communication startup for years prior, Yuan founded the communication platform Zoom. In an interview with Thrive Global, Yuan says that Zoom started as a daydream, a solution to a long-distance relationship that required a 10-hour train ride to see the other.[1]
Now, Zoom is used by more than 750,000 companies to keep their teams connected through video and audio conferencing, collaborative workspaces, chat, and more. The real-time, face-to-face aspect of Zoom makes it easier for companies to stay in touch, so people can easily work from home or stay connected while working remotely or across several office locations.
The takeaway:
Yuan’s difficult visa experience is a reality for many immigrants. But it’s also a testament to what can happen if you’re persistent and willing to keep trying. Whether you’re applying for an official document like a visa or a permit, or you’re simply trying to solve a difficult problem, determination will yield results—even if it takes a few years.
3. Halfaker & Associates, founded by Dawn Halfaker
Halfaker CEO @dawnhalfaker was named Executive of the Year at #GovCon2017! Learn more about this exciting honor: — Halfaker and Assoc. (@halfaker) November 3, 2017
The business success story:
Virginia-based contracting firm, Halfaker & Associates, deals with data analytics, cybersecurity, software engineering, and IT infrastructure for the federal government. After being wounded in combat in Iraq, Dawn Halfaker worked on Capitol Hill and with various other contractors looking for a way to continue working with the military even after being medically retired.
As a veteran herself, Halfaker knows firsthand what troops in combat need to be successful, and she saw a disconnect between those needs and what people in Washington could provide. This inspired her to start her own company and offer real-world, common-sense solutions to help the military be more effective.
The takeaway:
Halfaker’s story is a clear example of perseverance and getting back up after life knocks you down, and of what can be achieved with determination. But maybe what’s most important here is her commitment to her community—and how it benefits not only those around her, but also strengthens her business too. By hiring veterans and wounded warriors, Halfaker betters her company through their experience and expertise.
4. Night Owl Cleaning Services, founded by Arlete Turturro
The business success story:
Arlete Turturro has a degree in merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a real estate license from Queens College. But these days she’s not working in fashion or real estate. She’s the owner of Night Owl Cleaning Services and has been for nearly three decades.
Night Owl offers a huge array of services, like commercial cleaning, providing party attendants, plus 24-hour emergency services, too. Turturro was featured by the Westchester Business Journal and awarded its Woman of the Year Award in 2004.[2] She’s still going strong.
The takeaway:
You can plan for a certain future—and end up in a totally different place. In Turturro’s case, she changed fields, somewhat drastically, a few different times before finding the business that worked for her and it’s paid off.
Staying flexible and open to new possibilities can lead to great things—as can hard work. Starting off by cleaning homes and offices by yourself on the weekends isn’t the most glamorous job in the world, but it is an important one, and it led to Turturro owning her own business.
5. Xaviars Restaurant Group, founded by Peter X. Kelly
The business success story:
Peter X. Kelly is a self-taught chef. He didn’t go to culinary school, but his restaurants and catering business bring in around $10 million in sales a year. He beat Bobby Flay in 2006 and rose to become an Iron Chef (no small feat, as any Food Network fan can tell you).[3] He became the chef of the Highlands Country Club in Garrison, NY at 23 years old.[4] When asked if he was nervous to be so young in such a position, he said he knew he could pick up and try something else if he failed.
He didn’t fail. Quite the opposite, actually. He went on to open Xaviars at Piermont and the Freelance Cafe & Wine Bar (both sold in 2016), as well as X2O Xaviars on Hudson in Yonkers and Restaurant X & Bully Boy Bar in Congers. Restaurants are risky, as anyone who wants to open one will hear over and over again. But in Kelly’s case, the risk paid off. Kelly is also a vintner (a wine merchant) and the founder and culinary director of Impromptu Gourmet, which delivers chef-inspired foods made with real, fresh ingredients to your door.
The takeaway:
Entering the workforce can be challenging in any field, but especially one as competitive as the culinary world. Even if you don’t have the formal training, you can make up for it with passion and hard work—just like Kelly did. This approach doesn’t work for all fields, but it’s also not an uncommon story. If you’re willing to put in the work and learn by doing, you might be able to make it big.
6. CorpNet, founded by Nellie Akalp
The business success story:
Nellie Akalp is the founder of not one but two hugely successful companies—plus mom of four, author, and speaker. Even though entrepreneurs just starting out are often advised not to go into business with their significant others, she and her husband started in their living room, which they then sold to Intuit in 2008.
Then, rather than retiring on that sale, Akalp launched another company: CorpNet, which aims to help potential small business owners by preparing and filing the documents necessary to start a business in any state. For those already in business, CorpNet can help with ongoing paperwork like filing annual reports, changing a company name, and more.
The takeaway:
In the Akalps case, ignoring advice not to go into business together resulted in a hugely successful company and a $20 million sale. When you’re starting a business, you’re being inundated with advice from all sides—the internet, other business owners, family, and friends. But in the end, you have to make your own informed decisions. Listen to advice from people who’ve been there before, definitely. But also remember that you’ve done your homework, and can forge your own path.
7. GooRoo, founded by Scott Lee
The business success story:
GooRoo is an online platform for finding tutors for everything from basic reading and writing skills to SAT prep to college admission essays and more. GooRoo has more than 1,000 tutors in New York and has facilitated upward of 3,500 sessions. And those numbers keep growing.
Scott Lee founded his first company, Peertutor, while he was still in high school in South Korea. Since then, he’s gone back to serve in the Korean army, founded an online clothing retailer, worked for JPMorgan, and served as an advisor for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. After everything, he’s come back to his roots in education to found GooRoo and offer affordable education services to people that need it—and can apply all of his worldly experience to better inform his business decisions.
The takeaway:
Accumulating a diverse set of experiences can help you run your business best. As Lee says, all of his experiences helped him be a better CEO when he came back to what he knew he wanted to do in high school.[5] Of course, you don’t have to abandon ship and return to the roost, but you do want to make sure you incorporate outside-the-box experiences so you can have outside-the-box thinking.
8. Red Rabbit, founded by Rhys Powell
The business success story:
Founded in 2005 by former Wall Street trader Rhys Powell, Red Rabbit’s mission is to provide healthy, nutritious meals to school children. Red Rabbit partners with different schools to offer students made-from-scratch meals at affordable prices.
Powell started Red Rabbit after talking to parents who were struggling to consistently find healthy meal options for their children. Initially, the business plan was to have parents order meals online that would then be delivered to school. They quickly realized that doing things this way had a lot of costs and not a lot of return, so they switched their model and had the schools be the main customer instead of parents. Now, Red Rabbit delivers more than 20,000 fresh meals to students every day.
The takeaway:
By switching his focus from the parents to the schools themselves, Powell was able to increase profits and lower Red Rabbit’s overhead cost. Being flexible and receptive to what the data is showing you is crucial to the success of your small business. No matter how thoroughly you plan and how well you stick to that plan, sometimes you’ll need to make adjustments. But if you stay flexible, your changes might pay off in major ways.
9. Wine & Design, founded by Harriet Mills
The business success story:
In 2010, Harriet Mills had a young child and had just gotten laid off from her sales job. Rather than panic, she took a breath—and a paint-and-sip class. As she enjoyed the outing with some girlfriends, she realized that group painting just for fun was a largely untapped area. Now, her own take on the idea, Wine & Design, has almost 80 franchise locations across the country, offering a range of events including children’s parties and corporate get-togethers.
The takeaway:
Always be looking for the market whitespace to fill—that’s where your business is going to see success. And if you’re looking to start, pivot, or grow a business, your opportunities may come when you’re not looking for them. Heighten your senses for the areas within your own life that could use a little boost to start.
10. Grubhub and Seamless, founded by Matt Maloney and Jason Finger
The business success story:
Grubhub has been operating since 2004, founded by two web developers who were tired of keeping track of paper menus and reading their credit card numbers on the phone. Seamless, which merged with Grubhub in 2013, has a similar origin story—just replace web developers with lawyers.[6]
Today, Grubhub and Seamless combined serve from 80,000 local takeout restaurants in more than 1,600 cities in the U.S. They also have a corporate catering wing, so you can order larger-scale meals on a company card to the office in addition to their original single-meal model. But although they have the same parent company, they operate as separate brands, a deliberate choice.
The takeaway:
Don’t reinvent the wheel—or your brand, in this case—if you don’t have to. If the easiest answer is simplest, don’t question it. When Grubhub and Seamless merged, they decided to continue to keep the two brands distinct. Grubhub founder Matt Maloney explains that both brands had good awareness and success independently of each other, just in different cities.[7] By keeping both brands, they didn’t have to spend time or money rebranding or re-marketing either company.
11. Blueland, founded by Sarah Paiji Yoo
The business success story:
After becoming a new mom, Sarah Paiji Yoo realized just how much single-use plastic she was using and became determined to use less. That’s when she founded her company Blueland. She made a company that creates tablets that become cleaners for your home when mixed with water in reusable bottles. They make a cleaning essentials pack that comes with cleaning bottles and hand soap bottles and the tablets for when you need a refill, as well as window cleaner, bathroom cleaner, and handsoap.
The takeaway:
Yoo turned the dislike of single-use plastic into a business that helps eliminate further waste. She offers a solution to the single-use plastic products that are frequently used to package home-cleaning products to cut back on toxic and wasteful traditional products. Sometimes when you can’t find a solution to something, you just have to create it yourself.
12. Headspace, founded by Andy Puddicombe
The business success story:
While in school for sports science, Andy Puddicombe decided it was time for a change. That’s when he moved to the Himalayas and started studying meditation, which later led him to become a monk. After his return home, Puddicombe came up with the idea for an app to make meditation and relaxation more accessible to the general public. He ended up creating the app Headspace to help cultivate mindfulness and help people improve their meditation practice.
The takeaway:
You never know what journey life is going to take you on or how technology could end up allowing you to share your passions with the world. The journey Puddicombe went on may have taken years but it led him to create the app that has more than 30 million users worldwide.
13. founded by Sheila Lirio Marcelo
The business success story:
Finding the right person to take care of your children or loved ones while you’re at work can feel nearly impossible. Nobody can fully take your place, but many working parents and family members have to find the next best thing while they’re at work. That’s where comes in. It’s an online database that connects caregivers with those who looking for their services. The company was started by Sheila Lirio Marcelo in 2006 when she was a young working mom who needed some help taking care of her two children and her aging parents. The company is now also working to make systemic change across the care industry.
The takeaway:
The success of goes to show that if you have a need, other people might have the same one as well. The difficulties Lirio Marcelo was having finding caregivers have proven to be ones many people struggle with. That’s what’s helped make such a success.
The Final Word
Although all these businesses have different backstories and circumstances, there’s a common thread tying them together: The road to business success isn’t an easy one. You’ll experience hardship, obstacles, detractors, and decisions that seem impossible—but with hard work, smart planning, and a great idea you believe in, you can get yourself on the road to success.
Article Sources:
Why the Best Success Stories Often Begin With Failure
Long before the iPhone made him the god of gadgets, Steve Jobs launched his tech career by hacking land lines to make free long-distance calls.
Bob Dylan’s band, the Golden Chords, lost a high-school talent competition to a tap dancing act.
Behind every success story is an embarrassing first effort, a stumble, a setback or a radical change of direction. It’s these first clumsy steps on the road to fame and fortune that fascinate writer Seth Fiegerman, who edits the blog a collection of case studies on the origins of famous careers.
“When you see someone who’s very successful, you almost imagine that it was a foregone conclusion, that they’re a genius, that they were destined for great things,” says Fiegerman, who began the blog in 2009, after an early setback in his own career. “I think the big takeaway is failure and setbacks, far from being uncommon, are in many ways essential.”
After Fiegerman, now 26, graduated from New York University in 2008, he landed a coveted first job as a research editor at Playboy magazine. But he had worked there for just half a year when management announced that most of the staff would soon be laid off.
As unemployment loomed, Fiegerman felt adrift. He began to explore the Playboy archives, discovering a trove of interviews with celebrities ranging from Marlon Brando to Malcolm X. Many of these successful people shared tales of their less promising early days, and Fiegerman quickly became obsessed with these origin stories.
“It kind of paired well with this feeling that I had of, ‘Oh my God, what do I do?’” Fiegerman says. “And I found solace, in some ways, reading about the obstacles that famous figures had to overcome.”
He began devouring biographies and soliciting interviews with writers and musicians he admired, using the blog to document the fits and starts that began the careers of the famous and the infamous. Success, he learned, was less a matter of innate talent and more the product of perseverance, a willingness to stumble and stand up again and again.
“You kind of assume that great geniuses [are] like Mozart,” Fiegerman says. But few successful people were child prodigies, and prodigies don’t necessarily find success. “Most people don’t stick to it.”
Author Jennifer Egan stuck with it. She told Fiegerman that her first novel was so bad even her mother hated it. But Egan kept writing, and her writing got better—in 2011, she won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel about growing old in the digital age, A Visit From the Goon Squad.
Knowing about a hero’s early flops and foibles might disillusion some fans, but Fiegerman finds comfort in rough beginnings. “The only thing that would have disappointed me is if I’d researched all these guys and women and found out that they got it right on the first try, because, OK, I did not,” Fiegerman says with a laugh.
Like his subjects, Fiegerman found that his own early setback wasn’t permanent. He landed a new job in journalism, and today he works at the tech news website Mashable, covering, appropriately enough, start-up businesses. While he has less time for the blog, he hopes his collection of origin stories will help other young people realize it’s OK to fail.
“I hope some of them benefit from it,” he says. “But if nothing else, I feel like I benefited from it a little bit.”